think.ingcreative

If you like playing with Photoshop, you should consider playing with brushes. There are tons of places to get free brushes and some sweet brushes at that. Brusheezy is one of my favorites, but there are others as well.

Free Brushes

• Brusheezy.com
• PSbrushes.net
• 100 Awesome High-Res Photoshop Brushes

And should you ever feel the urge to create your own brushes, these sites are for you:

Photoshop Brush-Making Tutorials

• How to Make a Photoshop Brush (bittbox.com)
• Create Custom Brushes (freetimefoto.com)
• Make Photoshop Brushes (hypergurl.com)
• Create Photoshop Brushes from a Photo (photoshopbrushes.com)

Did you know that smaller doses of caffeine at regular intervals are better than one BIG’n?

It’s true. As reported in Scientific American:

A lot of people start their day with a big cup of coffee, hoping that the caffeine will invigorate them. But … low doses of caffeine administered at regular intervals may provide improved pick-me-up benefits.

Apparently, these low doses (such as 2 oz. of coffee) are particularly effective when combined with a light carb snack.

Tea and crumpets anyone? (That’s actually a pretty ingenious move on the Brits’ part, apparently.)

Let’s see … what would the American version be …

Here’s another article unpacking the same report.

And another from WIRED Magazine.

Smashing Magazine has recently published a set of online tutorials for Adobe Illustrator. Making illustrations from a hand-drawn sketch, creating logos, vintage T-shirt designs, comic book style creations, and 3-D effects … If you are somewhat artistic, these tutorials are for you.

Also, for the fun of it, here is another post, where they have put together a collection of sweet flash tutorials.

Have you ever noticed that it’s really easy to think like a consumer, asking questions like: “What should I buy next? From where? And for how much?” Seems like such questions come naturally.

Other questions come less naturally, such as, “How are my neighbors doing? How can I help improve my town or city? Which policies will help make our democracy healthier? Or how can I help promote human rights around the globe?”

If you happen to be a person who asks some of these latter questions, you may be part of a trend among our generation that seems to be growing (and I pray continues, including in me).

But it is important to understand that as a society we’re struggling to come out of a historical low-point, when fewer and fewer of us stopped to think about our neighbors or our communities and focused on other, lesser things.

(more…)

I’m collecting a list of useful articles on the topic of portfolio building (including for beginning designers) and business startup tips.

Here are direct links to those I’ve collected as of today:

• What Goes In Graphic Design Portfolios
• What Goes in a *Beginner’s* Design Portfolio
• The Benefits of a Graphic Design Blog
• Tips for a Graphic Design Business
• Using Word-of-Mouth to Grow Your Graphic Design Business

You’ll find the live and growing list at del.icio.us/ingcreative.

Also, see these links I’m collecting on portolio-building tips and portfolio examples. (There is some overlap between these two lists.)

But DON’T MISS these two very nice online portfolios:

• David Airey :: Graphic and Logo Designer
• Justin Bird, Web & Flash Designer

I just ran across a great tutorial for all you Photoshop nerds.

This technique has been used for years, but still creates a dynamic illusion that makes a picture appear to be jumping out of its frame. These effects never cease to impress. Although they may look hard to create, by following this set of instructions, you will be creating amazing effects in no time!

And if you’d like more, check out this list of hand-picked tutorials from Smashing Magazine.