Articles & Inspiration
Classic printing techniques such as screen printing rely on old school techniques to mix inks to form a colourful design. One of those methods is to directly overprint two colours on top of each other as a subtractive mix to provide additional hues alongside the primary ink colours. Typically this effect is produced at the printing stage, but similar effects can be replicated digitally in Photoshop and Illustrator. This showcase features 30 fantastic designs where the classic overprint effect is prominently used, resulting in interesting blends of text and images.
I’ve developed a little annual tradition to look back at my yearly content and summarise my posts into a greatest hits compilation. Today’s article collates my top content from 2013 based on the total number of social media likes and shares each post received. Were there any you missed? I’d love to know which post from my 2013 archives was your favourite!
As one of the most famous art movements Cubism has been a source of inspiration for both traditional and modern digital artists in recent history. The use of abstract geometric forms is especially popular in digital art with software applications often being based on simple shapes. In today’s post I showcase an inspirational collection of modern artworks and designs that have a clear touch of cubist style with their abstract characteristics and geometric construction.
Last year I posted a roundup of the best Photoshop alternatives aimed at casual designers or hobbyists who wants to fulfill their creative passion, but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on expensive industry standard software. I’m a big Illustrator fan myself and I post loads of Illustrator tutorials here on my blog, but it’s great to hear that a number of my fans actually transfer the design process over to cheaper vector editing programs. In today’s post I showcase 7 competitors to Illustrator that either include similar features or are capable of creating equally stunning artwork.
Just like Actions, Styles are little Photoshop files that contain preset configurations to instantly replicate a ready made effect with the click of a button. Styles are essentially preconfigured combinations of Photoshop Layer Styles, which makes them extremely popular for creating cool text effects. I’ve scoured the web and personally tested the best Styles I could find to bring you a collection of 20 free Photoshop styles to create stunning text effects.
Designers and Illustrators love to get crafty and create artwork by hand to achieve that unique organic effect. The irregular lines and natural texturing fills the artwork with character which sets it apart from common digital designs. This post features a collection of beautiful brand identities and typographic posters all carefully produced by hand with custom lettering. Are you a fan of this style? Also check out my showcases of motorcycle culture illustrations and hand drawn lettering poster designs.
