Access All Areas members have a fantastic Photoshop Add-On to download this week, courtesy of The Orange Box. The Editorial Mixed Media FX Adobe Photoshop Plugin Extension creates the most amazing artistic collage effects for your photos and illustrations, combining newspaper clippings, brush strokes, watercolour drops and sketch lines to produce a unique contemporary art look. The effect can be applied using Photoshop ActionScripts, or using the free FxBox Photoshop Extension from The Orange Box.
I’ve seen some cool images on Pinterest lately that pair everyday photos with neon lights to create contemporary art pieces that combine two contrasting themes. They often feature illuminated words, or random shapes that stand out from the background with a vibrant glow. In today’s tutorial, we’re going to create a similar neon sign effect that enhances a photo with an integral message, all tied together with a colourful glow that seems to illuminate the surrounding scene.
Access All Areas members have an awesome pair of typefaces to download this week, courtesy of LeoSupply.co. Costa La Vista is made up of 11 individual fonts and styles, designed for headlines, titles, posters and books. Costa is a condensed geometric sans with a strong appearance, while Vista is a rough handmade brush script. They can each be used individually as standalone typefaces, or they can be combined to produce bold typography with emphasis on keywords or phrases.
I have been busy overhauling the Access All Areas membership of Spoon Graphics recently. There are now some subtle interface improvements, 50 new source files for video tutorials (plus another 50 or so to come!), and a new annual membership plan that will help you save money by signing up for yearly payments. You can now become a member on a monthly basis at $10, or benefit from a saving of 17.5% by selecting an annual plan at $99, which effectively gives you 2 months free (plus an extra $1… Call it a gift from me to you!)
Add cool retro style print effects to your artwork with this free collection of super-high resolution Halftone Texture Photoshop Brushes. Each brush features a unique array of halftone dots that gradually change in size to produce subtle variations of tone. There’s 10 brushes in the set, ranging from light tones made with widely spaced tiny dots, through to densely packed groups of heavy dot patterns. Applying these textures over solid colour backgrounds instantly adds subtle details and gives your artwork an old newsprint or comic book style appearance.
There have been some fantastic new feature additions to Adobe Photoshop since I began using it many years ago. It’s weird to imagine how we managed without tools like Smart Objects, the Healing Brush or Type on a Path. Veteran users might even remember the dark ages before Layers! Since the move to the Creative Cloud subscription service, updates and bug fixes have been coming thick and fast. It’s great to now be able to update to the latest version without having to order a new box of CD-ROMs. The recent 2019 Photoshop CC update includes some really interesting developments. Here’s an overview of my favourite new features that have already become part of my everyday workflow.
