BlogmyQuery - BMQ » Web Design

Back from vacation. But not really back yet.

SimpleBits — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:29:00 +0000

Back from vacation. But not really back yet.

40 Awesome Works of Art Made From Paper

vitaly — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:29:45 +0000

By Tim Mercer

Paper is a humble medium. It’s often cheap and you probably have some within 20 feet of you right now. Most of us just use it for jotting down ideas, writing notes or doodling but some resourceful artists out there use it to create stunning works of art.

Often referred to as papercraft, this art form take the ordinary and transforms it into the extraordinary. Many artists use nothing more than paper to create anything from exquisite cut outs to the most detailed and realistic models. Today we present 40 Awesome Works of Art Made From Paper that will inspire you to take a second look at the often over-looked material and re-think its possibilities.

Wataru Itou
This astounding paper model looks amazing with all the little lights illuminating it. Be sure to hit up the link for more pictures of this masterpiece.

Haywan
This life-sized paper model of Link is amazing. Can you believe it’s just paper? Click on the picture to see videos of the build.

ClÃ¡udio Dias
This detailed train was designed and built by Claudio. It has over 400 parts and you can download the plans for free to build your own.

Another of Claudio’s paper model designs. This Back To The Future Delorean even has a detailed cockpit. Click the picture to download the plans for this model for free.

Brian Chan
This Origami work was based on the Mensa logo. No cutting or gluing here – just folded paper.

Amazingly, this fiddler crab was created by folding just a single piece of paper.

Sher Christopher
Sher Christopher collects paper from all over the world to create unique works of art. This piper is intently focused on his subject.

This masked woman has great style. The curled paper hair looks awesome.

Peter Callesen
Peter’s pieces often have a thought provoking effect on the viewer. This one is no exception. Great original concept and flawless execution.

I love the idea of this one. It almost has a life after death feeling to it.

Ingrid Siliakus
This symmetrical design is really impressive and full of little details.

This insane paper model takes the idea of the pop-up book to a new level. Truly remarkable.

Bovey Lee
Bovey Lee produces some extraordinarily detailed paper cut-outs. This is a close-up of a larger piece that will blow your mind.

Wow. I can only imagine the time invested in this intricate piece. You should definitely visit Bovey’s site to see her other works.

Zim and Zou
A tribute to old school handheld gaming, this Gameboy almost looks real at first glance.

Biglobe
Speaking of old school, these Snow Walkers are awesome. You can even print out the plans and build them yourself.

orudorumagi11
This little origami penguin is a folded dollar bill. The white beak and the swirl for the eye is really impressive.

This artist’s uncanny ability to perfectly line up artwork on the dollar bill to become details of the final product is amazing. The head of the fish couldn’t be more perfect if he painted it on after the fact.

Helen Musselwhite
This stylized 3D papercraft is simply beautiful. I love the depth and perspective it has.

Another stunning vision in 3D papercraft with clean lines and lots of details to discover.

Smadani
The simplistic and clean design of this piece is awesome.

I really like the 3D quality of this artist’s work.

Jalopnik
This insane paper model not only looks great but actually features a moving fan, crankshaft and pistons. Click the picture to see a video of it in action.

Nemisis7485
This paper model has a crazy amount of detail. Even the tracks are made of paper.

Michael Mash
It’s hard to believe someone could design and build such an amazing scale model of a ship just using mostly paper.

Warin
Transformers’ Bumble Bee never looked so good. Can you believe this is just basically paper and glue.

WanRayen
This paper model looks real enough to be used in a movie. Notice all the details. I can’t find anything that gives away the fact that it’s not real.

Moshi
This cargo ship has clean lines and some great colors.

Loenf
This super-cool paper Predator come with his own set.

Another awesome papercraft model from Loenf with its own scene and background. This one has great looking textures and detailed terrain.

Milenio3
This fighter jet is full of authentic details including missiles docked just under the wings. check out the other pictures for even more detailed shots by clicking on the photo.

RlWhitt
The space shuttle with an opening bay door and robotic arm ready to deliver its payload. Amazing.

Wag
This old school bi-plane with a spinning prop is wonderful.

Yulia Brodskaya
Yulia’s work is truly outstanding and inspiring. I love the flourishes in this one.

This design is full of wildlife in vibrant colors.

Beautiful topography and great colors make this design really pop.

Bert Simmons
Bert Simmons creates 3D models of people then flattens them and prints them out to be assembled. The end result is amazing.

This piece is actually a wearable mask. Check out the artist’s site to see a video of someone wearing it. It looks like a real-life bobblehead.

Sue Blackwell
This stunning papercraft is made from cutting up a book. It has lots of movement in it. You can almost hear the wind rustling in the trees.

This awesome book-cut sculpture depicts Alice and the Mad Hatter’s tea party.

Further Resources

100 free paper model you can print out and build yourself

See some of the most amazing paper models anywhere in this paper models forum

Learn the basics of papercraft with these instructional videos

Web Design Checkmate: Using Chess For Success in Web Design

Alexander Dawson — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:49:39 +0000

The business of building websites is one of constant change, adaptation and strategy. The way designers and developers build websites is often informed by the methods of others and their own trial and error. In light of this, we can draw a number of parallels â€” some philosophical, to a certain extent â€” between Web professionals and one of the oldest and most popular board games of all time (counting traditional and digital games). This game is chess.

Image credit

In this article, weâ€™ll explore the relationship between the game of chess and the Web industry. Weâ€™ll learn fundamental lessons from the pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen and king, and weâ€™ll highlight the factors â€” both offline and online â€” that determine best practices. The game is beloved by many professionals, so it seems fitting to apply its great strategy and elegance to the digital age; certain practices might help you lead a more successful working life.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that there is a Smashing eBook Series? Book #1 is Professional Web Design, 242 pages for just $9,90.]

Pawns

Of all the pieces on a chessboard, the most abundant and least strategically useful are the pawns. Acting as soldiers on the front line, these men of honor advance across the board in an attempt to reach the end of the opponentâ€™s side and transform into a more useful piece (i.e. another queen). While this doesnâ€™t happen often, pawns nevertheless play a fundamental role in shielding higher-ranking pieces from attack, and these simple pieces are also used at the outset to gain positions of advantage.

Always Move Forward

Pawns can only move forward. They can get a quick start; players have the option of moving the pawns up to two spaces on their first move and subsequently moving them one space at a time. When you work on projects in a business environment, the principle of moving forward without back-tracking is an inspirational perspective. If you cease to constantly drive your ideas forward, they can become stagnant; progress is critical to a websiteâ€™s development.

Here are some tips you can use to adopt this mindset:

Don’t get stuck using deprecated practices when structuring website code.
Examine your community to determine needed features for future upgrades.
Change a websiteâ€™s interface only if it would benefit the user experience.

Be Willing to Sacrifice

The ideal of giving something up in exchange for a greater good is realized by pawns, which, though limited in function, are plentiful and can protect others. In design, shielding the end user from issues that can damage the usability of the website is a worthwhile sacrifice. Having to let go of something that took time and energy is always unfortunate, but knowing when to say goodbye could mean the difference between success and failure.

Here are some tips for internalizing this attitude:

Ensure that your Web layouts are flexible enough to meet the needs of various devices.
Weigh the benefits of features against their pitfalls before eliminating them.
Content is more valuable than design; never dilute its quality for eye candy.

Aim for Change

The pawnâ€™s greatest moment is arriving at the opponentâ€™s side of the board. Striving for betterment and aiming for your goals are behavioral ideals firmly upheld by professionals. This requires dedication and careful planning. When undertaking a creative project, itâ€™s important to think beyond the current ask and consider the long-term project.

Here are some tips to get into this mode:

The website-building process is never complete; ensure that you maintain a steady flow of updates.
Think of ways to enhance the website to better cater to your visitorsâ€™ changing needs.
It never hurts to have a business plan when scoping out a Web-based project.

Rooks

Rooks (or castles, as some people call them) are fortresses of strength that move across the board either horizontally or vertically. Their nature is similar to that of bishops in that they move in a straight line (although bishops move diagonally). Progress can be hindered by barriers, and interaction with other pieces is sometimes required, but the rookâ€™s overall benefit is stamina and longevity.

When working on Web projects, we often put a great deal of thought into things like conventions and patterns and their theory and implementation. The nature of semantics and following recognized pathways in order to structure a document properly is reminiscent of the way that chess pieces such as the rook have a particular function and invariably carry out unique tasks. Only with logical thought can we hope to change the ultimate goals of an event and avoid obstruction.

Structure With Purpose

A rook represents strength and structure. The castle of stone might be restricted in its interactions on the chessboard, but its value is in its character. Websites need to be constructed well in order to survive the trials of everyday use. Considering how such needs should be met will ensure a sturdy and durable display of data. Take great care when structuring your work to reduce “illegal moves” and syntax.

Here are some tips for strengthening your outlook and code:

Always validate your code; it will reduce the number of bugs.
Use the right element for the job to improve your codeâ€™s semantic value.
Keep code minimal to reduce file size and loading time.

Assist Those in Need

Like the other pieces on a chessboard, the rook is always on hand to help out by attacking or defending. Working with others to accomplish a task is only part of their job. In a Web environment, the same is true: if you take the time to assist those who use your website or service, not only will you increase your value, but you will gain the gratitude of the visitors, whom your website requires in order to keep running.

Here are some tips that might be of assistance:

Providing ways for people to contact you is important to maintaining trust.
Negative feedback can still be constructive; donâ€™t dismiss it as â€œbashing.â€�
Provide social interaction aids to help visitors feel involved in your community.

Take Precautions

Sometimes things donâ€™t go as planned, in which case youâ€™ll want to hold the strongest position possible. Rooks, like all other critical pieces, are only tools to protect other pieces in play, but caution is fundamental to remaining in a position of power. Thinking of how future scenarios might challenge your strategy can help future-proof your work from obvious flaws. You don’t want visitors to encounter obstacles that make them miss out on the benefits of your website!

Below are some tips for fortifying your website:

Turn off scripts and styles to test whether your website is still usable.
Test your websites on mobile devices, a market that is proliferating.

Knights

Knights are unique in their movement, going forward two spaces and then taking a single side-step. This means they can weave past other pieces and take up positions of singular advantage. Strategically, knights are most often used to pin hard-to-reach pieces in place through a clever attack. While this unique movement has its advantages, the knight does not replace the other pieces, which have their own strategic benefits.

Our uniqueness, whether as it is applies to our creative process, our products or our ability to solve common problems, is something we as professionals take for granted. We are able to incorporate creative flourishes when we forge applications, flourishes that can be tracked through the code (such as conditional comments, which give stylistic flavor to Internet Explorer). Like a white knight saving our sanity, our uniqueness helps us side-step issues that could otherwise become complicated.

Be Brave in Adversity

Mythology has taught us the familiar attributes of the knight: bravery, strength and honor. Thoughtful reflection on the Web-building process teaches us to be courteous to others and brave, while sticking to our guns when faced with the prospect of compromising in order to gain market share.

Here are some tips to make yourself more knight-like:

Never take criticism personally; negative feedback is often the most useful kind.
Donâ€™t resign in the face of competition; the only failure in life is to quit trying.
Try to rally support for your project; thereâ€™s strength in numbers.

Have a Selling Point

The knight is the only chess piece that move in two directions in one turn; even the queen can’t do this! This attribute teaches us the value of having a selling point. Selling points give visitors a reason to choose one product or service over others that perform the same function.

Here are some tips on finding your selling point:

Draw from other people’s work, but never steal anything outright.
Improving on existing services is a kind of innovation in its own right.
Be focused in what you offer; reinventing too much increases complexity.

Avoid Barriers to Access

The knight is the only piece that can pass over others in its movement. This ability to navigate past barriers is somewhat reminiscent of standard recommendations for accessibility, which ask us to remove barriers to access on our websites. The goal is to allow freedom of movement and access to content.

Below are some tips on removing barriers:

Consider the types of people who are not as able as you are online.
Testing your work on an audience is better than going solo.
Make sure your website works in different browsers to avoid serious breakages.

Bishops

The bishop is a piece that moves diagonally across the chessboard. The bishop scans the board for its next move, minding pieces that block its path, in the same way that a visitor scans content until a barrier prevent their progress. A bishop cannot step off the tile color to which it was initially assigned, ensuring a kind of vendor lock-in.

As Web professionals, we tend to get caught up in arguments about whether frameworks are useful, given their disadvantages (and even with graceful degradation, for example). The benefits of frameworks for certain situations occasionally outweigh their downsides (like trapping users in the environment), so make the most of what you have; dismissing less powerful options is not always the best way to go â€” in fact it could increase the amount of work required.

Have Faith in Your Work

The bishop, of course, is religious in nature, an agent in the battle between two sides. Faith in a religious sense is not needed to practice Web design, but as a quality of character it does play a part in oneâ€™s identity. Faith affects motivation and makes you believe in the project you’re spending so much time and effort on. If you have no faith in your craft, the job is doomed from the outset.

Here are some tips for building faith in your work:

Create a list of benefits to focus on your website’s potential.
Set realistic, structured goals to achieve success.
Encourage visitors to recommend your work to people they know.

Know Your Limits

It may seem frustrating that each bishop is trapped on its own color, limited in impact. But if you make the most of it, bishops can still be useful. Know your own strengths and limitations, so that you donâ€™t attempt the impossible or unachievable â€” if you do, the result will surely be flawed.

Here are some tips on knowing your limits:

Get external support or advice when you hit a wall.
If something canâ€™t be achieved the way you hoped, look for alternatives.
Reduce your weaknesses by learning new skills regularly.

Stick to Your Guns

While being able only to move diagonally may seem like a disadvantage, this can prove useful on occasion. Having sheer determination to carry out a job in a certain way is admirable. We humans are sometimes stubborn, and we stick to our guns when possible. This can cause us to make mistakesâ€¦ or motivate us to persevere.

Here are some tips on being determined:

Reflect on a project’s overall goals whenever possible in order to reassess a planâ€™s feasibility.
Mistakes happen, and no one is perfect, but thatâ€™s no reason to stop trying.

The Queen

The queen is the second-most important piece on the chessboard. She can move horizontally, vertically and diagonally across any distance, and her power spans the entire board. She is the kingâ€™s most agile bodyguard, and losing her can be devastating. You have to use your power responsibly, both on the chessboard and in your profession; misusing your tools could cause you to lose visitors to the competition.

Sometimes we find ourselves swatting a fly off a nuclear warhead. Knowing exactly what to use, when to use it and how to use it appropriately is what ultimately distinguishes professionals from amateurs. In addition, taking advantage of the powerful tools at our disposal can speed up progress and eliminate the complexities that come with attempting the impossible with simple tools.

Realize Your Potential

A potent force, the queen moves freely about the chessboard, with few restrictions. The queen is a powerful piece and reminds us to exert the greatest effort to reach our potential. Rather than staying in our comfort zone, we must always learn new skills and achieve more than what is expected of us.

Here are some tips to stretch your skills:

Everyone has the capacity to learn; keep your skill set up to date.
Push yourself to become a better professional and to exceed your own expectations.
Try not to let any of your skills go to waste when creating something.

Cover All Bases

In our work, we try to minimize error by viewing every situation from multiple angles â€” this is important. In chess, players use the queen in much the same way, exploiting her power yet shielding her from harm. In the creative process, your only real limitation is being blind to critical elements, which is why getting some perspective from outside testers and users never hurts.

Here are some tips to cover your bases:

The more time you spend planning a project, the better the results usually will be.
Information architecture is your friend; make use of wireframes and mock-ups.
Spend time testing your website intensively for critical flaws.

Strategy and Learning

You have two knights, two rooks, two bishops and many pawns, but only one queen. Her value lies in her singularity; each move of the queen requires strategy and consideration of consequences. We become better players â€” and professionals â€” through trial and error, constant learning and foresight. Being cautious in the game teaches us to be wise in business.

Here are some tips to help you strategize:

Read blogs, books, tutorials, magazines and anything else that can help guide you.
Analyze your target audience to get ideas on what your website might need in future.
Researching the competition gives you a sense of what potential visitors need.

The King

No piece is as important as the king; it is the one piece that must evade capture. The king moves only one space at a time, in any direction, and whenever it is in immediate danger, either a piece must be moved to block the attack or the king must be moved to avoid it. The king has no equal and cannot be restored by a pawn â€” sacrifice, and so prevention is imperative.

Web professionals have to protect what is important, too. We deal with payment details, databases, passwords and other sensitive information. If we lose any of that through carelessness or a lack of preventative measures, we end up losing something greater: the customer. Establishing trust takes time, but it can be lost as quickly as a surprise checkmate!

Avoid Traps

Protecting the king is the primary concern of every chess player. Gaining advantage to prevent loss is important. While Web professionals usually have no reason to evade capture (unless theyâ€™re doing something wrong), the benefit of avoiding common traps (the equivalent of “foolsmate” in chess) becomes apparent when testing the cross-browser functionality of a website.

Here are some tips on avoiding traps:

Try to reduce the intrusiveness and obtrusiveness of your website to enhance the visitorâ€™s experience.
Actively seek out errors in your work to improve your service.
Internet Explorer is a pain. Watch out for its rendering faults.

Value and Importance

A common tactic in chess is to weigh the value of the pieces against the benefits they represent. The king is critical because the game is lost without it. Comparing value has an important role in the Web industry, too, especially when losing mission-critical features would undermine the entire process. Comparing value also helps when prioritizing maintenance work or scheduling upgrades.

Here are some ways to tip the scale:

Accurately pinpoint the value of your service.
Upgrades are avoidable, but reduce downtime as much as possible.
Price your service fairly; prices that are either too high or too low create problems.

Know When to Resign

Sometimes we get so excited â€” or stressed, as the case may be â€” about complex or next-to-impossible projects that we forget the option of saying â€œno.â€� We never like to resign or throw down our sword; we feel as though we have failed because we couldnâ€™t meet the clientâ€™s needs. But firing bad clients and knowing when to scrap weak ideas is a part of being a professional. You canâ€™t win every fight.

Here are some tips on recognizing when to throw in the towel:

Trust your instincts when deciding whether to undertake a project.
Salvage something from anything you work on.
Learn how to deal with â€œclients from hell.â€�

Chessboard

Chess players focus on the pieces in play and on capturing the king, but they must also understand the chessboard as a battleground on which this drama plays out. This relates to the website-creation process (and to a lesser extent, the Web industry): lessons are to be learned from the chessboard itself.

Image credit

Light and Dark

Like a chessboard, the Web industry is full of light and dark, good and bad. We weigh benefits and pitfalls when performing our roles. A chess game tells a story; likewise, the fruits of our labor and our highlights and disappointments all appear online.

Think Ahead

One of chessâ€™ biggest lessons is to think ahead, instead of in the moment. Being able to predict how your opponent will move helps you gain advantage. This is also true of the website-building process. Unjustified decision-making leads to problems, whereas well-planned strategies that entice people to visit and use your service lead to faster results and greater rewards.

Weigh Your Options

In chess, there are literally millions of ways a game can play out, and with every move the number of potential outcomes decreases. Knowing your options and which route affords the best opportunity for success is a critical skill. Website creators have many different methods of production and implementation as well, but missing the mark with scalability or usability can diminish a website’s user-friendliness and jeopardize its success.

Make Your Move

Decision-making can be tricky; in chess, a wrong move can cause you to lose a piece, a good position, an advantage or even the game. The same could be said of building a website. Preparing for different projects, services and eventualities is one thing, but having the courage, skill and understanding to carry them out successfully takes practice. After examining your options, make your move: put all your careful planning into action.

Checkmate!

So many useful lessons can be learned from chess. If you havenâ€™t played it before, visualizing what we’ve gone over might be hard, but the fundamental principles of the game â€” how the pieces interact and the role of strategy in the big picture â€” should not be ignored. The game actively promotes logical thinking and strategy â€” both useful skills.

More lessons could certainly be drawn from the game, but hopefully this article will serve as a source of inspiration, especially if you feel your goals are out of reach. We often learn the most from making mistakes, losing a battle and then returning to win the war. Nowhere is this been truer than in chess, where a mixture of practice, skill and occasional luck is required to become the grandmaster.

So many aspects of the Web industry (such as syntax, design and ideals) change constantly, but the fundamental principles of learning, growing and trying your best often mean the difference between failure and success. Try to incorporate lessons from the chessboard into your own work; while having all the pieces doesnâ€™t guarantee victory, having the basic skills will give you the confidence and awareness that you need to succeed.

(al)

Touchscreens and Hover states

speckyboy — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:16:11 +0000

With the huge popularity of mobile touch devices and the current major drive to make everything web related compatible with these devices, today’s Design Reviver Answers discussion is certainly relevant with current development trends. The question that was asked was “Will Touchscreen devices make hover states a thing of the past?”

You can leave your thoughts and point-of-view below, or you can leave your answer on the original question on Answers here: Will Touchscreen devices make hover states a thing of the past?

Will Touchscreen devices make hover states a thing of the past?

This question was originally asked by Mpstud.

The best answer comes from Darrell Estabrook :

Thanks to everyone who asked a question, but most importantly thanks to everyone that took the time and effort to offer helpful and useful answers.

Remember non-vendor-prefixed CSS 3 properties (and put them last)

Roger Johansson — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:25:24 +0000

Everybody wants to use CSS 3 now that even Internet Explorer will support parts of it once IE 9 is out. But since parts of CSS 3 are still subject to change, most browsers use a vendor prefix for many CSS 3 properties to signal that their implemenation is â€œexperimentalâ€� and may change in a later version of the browser.

This means that for a property like border-radius to work cross-browser you need to specify it several times with different vendor prefixes, like this:

.box {
-moz-border-radius:10px;
-webkit-border-radius:10px;
border-radius:10px;
}

Read full post

Posted in Browsers, CSS.

30 Fantastic and Splendid Digital Painting Tutorials

vitaly — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:21:22 +0000

We all have our spirit of imagination from our childhood â€” we give a shape to our thoughts by drawing image on school yard, on a piece of paper or on a digital tablet. Photoshop, Wacom and Illustrator are beautiful tools that help us transform our imagination into beautiful drawings. Today we present useful tutorials teaching us techniques for digital drawing and painting.

Digital Painting Tutorials

Making of Funfair
This tutorial will show you how to make a funny character in Photoshop.

Do you want to Play with me
Author has created this artwork in Photoshop and with a Wacom Intuos.

Making of Hecate
Author will share making of a painting of Hecate who is the Greek goddess of the crossroads.

Project Overview: Public Transportation
In this tutorial, author will take you through the transition process of the drawing of the trucker sitting on a seat to a cool colored picture in Photoshop.

Digital Painting Lesson: Monkey Island 2: LeChuckâ€™s Revenge Special Edition
In this tutorial author walks you through the construction process in amazing detail.

Colorize a Comic Strip With Photoshop
In this quick tip tutorial author will demonstrate how to import a sketch into Photoshop and color it.

Breakfast Wars
In this tutorial, author will show the process and some techniques to create his artwork from design to rendering.

Painting fantasy eyes
Author explains how to make eyes look natural in painting.

Making of “Autumn”
In this tutorial, you will make Yellow & red leaves flying around the girl, with autumn smiling.In

Painting Jake Sully’s Avatar
In this tutorial, author makes a fan art of Avatar movie’s protagonist, Jake Sully.

How to Paint a Realistic Proportioned Female Face from Scratch
In this tutorial author will show you how to paint a proportioned female face from scratch. this tutorial will start with the absolute basics and move on to more advanced techniques, so even beginners can follow.

Making of Grenat
Author shares the details of making of â€œsparkling blossoms of the rockâ€�. Grenat (garnet)

Seascape Part I: The Landscape Photoshop Tutorial
This Photoshop tutorial will show you how to complete an underwater landscape painting step by step. This is part one of a two part series.

Making of Under the Root
This tutorial will take you through the process of Making of Under the Root, inspired from the children story “Nausicaa and the Old Tree”.

Matte Painting: Making of Barbarossa
This is a matte painting that author have realized for the â€œBarbarossaâ€� movie and shows Romeâ€™s sunup in the year 1000.

Draw a T-Shirt in Photoshop
This detailed step by step tutorial will show you techniques on creating shapes, shading, embossing, and more.

Making Of Boudicca 3060 A.D
This article will provide you with a walkthrough ofauthor’s experiences during the creation of Boudicca 3060 A.D.and informative.

How To Create A Slick Anime Character In Photoshop
n this tutorial, weâ€™ll learn how to draw an Anime Style character.

Making of The Royal Assassin
In this short tutorial author will give you a walkthrough of the way he build up an illustration from start to finish.

How to Draw a Photorealistic Coffee Cup
In this tutorial we’ll draw a very realistic cup of coffee. Underneath the cup we’ll add some stain using custom brush.

Cloud strife
This tutorial will show you how to make a character in Photoshop to capture the mood in the portrait.

Making of Cadenus and Vanessa
Author will take us through the process of making Making of Cadenus and Vanessa, made using Wacom Intuos, Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop.

Seascape Painting Part II: Creating the Fish and Finishing the Picture
This detailed tutorial is the second part of the Seascape Painting series to teach you how to draw the fishes and add a finishing touch to the image.

Making of Always in My Heart
Author has created this artwork using: Corel Painter, Wacom Graphire and Hyde, Japanese rocker and vocalist L’arc~en~ciel (in French it means “The Arc in the Sky) band.

Beach Girl Drawing
Learn how to create a delightful portrait from sketch to Photoshop. This tutorial will teach you how to color, shade, and create a gorgeous beach scene.

Use a Tablet to Create Stunning Comic Book Fan Art Illustrations
In this tutorial author will review some tips and tricks when working with a digital tablet and Photoshop. The artwork we will use is a fan art illustration of the Knights of the Zodiac character.

Romantic Couple Painting
This tutorial will teach you how to transform an inked drawing into a full-color piece of fantasy artwork entirely through the use of Photoshop.

Making of Be My Valentine
Author shares the details of making a beautiful paining of a girl.

Spider Harp
This picture represent a fantasy musician able to play harp on a spider web.

Showcase Of Appetizing Restaurant Websites

Sam Wilson — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:54:23 +0000

They say the first bite is taken with the eye. If so, these appetizing restaurant websites succeed in whetting our appetites, inviting us to a savoury next bite. In these designs, color scheme and introductory copy show vastly different aspects of the restaurant experience. Moody warm tones create atmosphere, vibrant greens underscore freshness, and earthy colors communicate a relaxed, friendly attitude.

Because customers are increasingly using mobile browsers to make decisions on the spot, restaurant websites are doing a better job of communicating core information quickly. Similarly, full Flash websites with no mobile alternatives are seeing some decline. Especially interesting is how these businesses are improving their online menus by replacing PDF-only downloads with Web-optimized alternatives that are more readable and easier to navigate.

[By the way, did you know we have a free Email Newsletter? Subscribe now and get fresh short tips and tricks in your inbox!]

Showcase Of Restaurant Designs

Geogeske
This design has printerly qualities, with its eye-catching oranges and whites and oversized headings. Everything works together to establish a relaxed yet smart urban atmosphere. The JavaScript effects (sectional fades and spring-loaded logo introduction) are used sparingly and effectively. Simple navigation and short copy make scanning easy while putting the focus on the strong menu-worthy photography. However, the site could certainly use a larger font size.

Jam Restaurant
Upscale modernist and classical elements are used consistently on this website and in the menu and restaurant interior. The vibrant typographic header looks stunning while enhancing usability by prominently displaying a phone number and hours. Another nice touch is how the body scrolls beneath the stationary translucent header.

Benitoâ€™s Hat
Named after a celebrated Mexican president, this restaurant communicates authenticity and freshness with a green cilantro backdrop and clear devotion to its culinary roots. At times, the backdrops on the interior pages eat the foreground text; a little contrast and spacing would help in spots. Overall, an offbeat feel that works.

Pizzeria Napolicentrale
This website uses horizontal navigation to guide the user through photos of mood-setting rustic Italian elements. The beige picnic pattern adds just enough visual interest without competing with the copy. But in some sections, the taller content makes horizontal scrolling a bit floaty.

Barleyâ€™s
A cozy design rich in grainy colors and sturdy serifs. Small touchesâ€”like the roll-overs, and lighting effects such as in the logo hover stateâ€”give a handcrafted feel. Do not miss the nice, readable menu and beer list that feature stylishly simple beer ratings.

State
With nocturnal tones and pictures of people having a good time, the State uses a hip design to say that it’s a cool sociable night spot. Perhaps intentionally, there seems to be little focus on food; for example, the menu section feels skimped (disjointed navigation and flimsy type for the buttons). More photos of the restaurant and food might enhance the personality of this website. Also, the home page seems a tad cluttered. In general, a little more depth in the sub-pages would round out what is a good-looking piece.

Farinella Bakery
Fun and disarmingly honest, Farinella Bakery takes the cake in blending personality and usability. The bold header and fun footer become bookends for the spot-on copy and photos. Notice the slight head bob when you click on the navigation and the magnification when you roll over menu items; a tasty browsing experience. What makes this a winner is that the integrity and consistency of the design can be found in the smallest elements.

Sono
Authentic Japanese design elements and atmospheric audio effects work well to create mystique on this Flash website. A few usability concerns pop out: for example, the flaky JavaScript for the “Back” button and the small text that is in a cramped box with a small scroll bar.

The Little Cake Parlour
This more conventional website shines with gorgeous photography that almost seems edible. The design has a strong focus on typography, with various elements embedded in the elegant pink multi-column layout. Some design elements probably shouldn’t be images and would work better as simple plain text, though. Also, because all visual elements have a similar pink tone, they may be a bit difficult to recognize at first glance â€” for instance, the pink PayPal-button in the footer of the site.

Pizza Luce
With playful tattoo-like scribbles and quirky photography, Pizza Luce makes clear its immutable place in Minneapolisâ€™ food culture. Check out the oddly captivating home page illustration. For all of these strengths, the community section feels slapped together and in need of a bit of refinement.

La Vista
The clever use of the Flash overlay here adds intimacy and life to the crisp photography. The menu is noteworthy: simple to browse and very clean.

Georgian Wine Society
The backdrop feels like a matte painting that draws us into the headspace. With that, we are receptive to the interesting narrative about Georgia’s role in wine-making. The e-commerce system is well integrated; a more generous margin between elements would augment the shopping experience.

Catered by Kate
This websiteâ€™s “About” page is one of the top in this showcase. It opens with Kate smiling warmly, giving the page a welcoming human touch. Next, it summarizes (in only two sentences) three very compelling reasons why you would use Kate for your catered event. Just one distracting but easy-to-fix minus: a call-out to an empty Flickr page that is supposed to hold more images.

Can Jubany
This clean layout on deep chocolate brown feels elegant even while containing a surprisingly large amount of content. The home page sets the right tone with the large yet quick-loading video that tells a story. Two more unique touches are the simple sliding navigation and the tantalizing, well-written recipe section.

Caravan
This simple and savvy composition uses negative space to focus on the coffee while adding depth with subtle textures. If the placeholder is this solid, then our expectations are high for the full website!

Chipotle
Humor, earthy tones and engaging (and notably non-Flash) animations make for an experience that is engaging and relaxed yet expertly crafted. Consistent with its corporate message of “Food with integrity,” Chipotle focuses much of the website on its brand rather than the burritos. Be sure to tug the rope in the footer for some hidden and delightful interactivity.

Le 28 Thiers
Here are tangerine and rose hues mingled with crisp photographic elements and textures. The simple wooden table distinguishes the layout and grounds the content visually. Subtle gradients in the typography, quality photography and the curved navigation inject elegance and dimension.

Brooklyn Fare
This playful design achieves a unique charm through imagery that consists of real employees, bookish serifs and a stylish seafoam background. Especially nice is the consistent layout, with its cheerful copy and gritty photography, which avoids appearing repetitive.

Canela
Canela (Portuguese for “cinnamon”) employs a conventional layout, energetic reds and generous imagery to give a sense of flavor and sophistication. The three-column PDF-only menu makes browsing on a mobile device more challenging.

Last Click

Brew Shop
The Brew Shop is not really a restaurant website, but it is still worth mentioning. The site establishes personality at first sight with a hilarious photo and beery good humor. It backs the funny with substance, such as a very usable e-commerce system, effective copy and scannable icon-enhanced navigation. Especially nice are the swaths of red as call-outs and the subtly scrambled type.

You may be interested in the following related posts:

Would you like to see more similar posts on SM?

(al)

Amazing Pure CSS3 Experiments

speckyboy — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:19:13 +0000

The new and revitalized CSS3 properties have not only opened up many, many marvelous development solutions for web designers, it has also allowed talented developers to push the boat out further and showcase there CSS skills by building and styling in ways that were never ever thought possible previously.

In today’s news round-up we take a look at some of these amazing experimental pure CSS3 creations…

Please note, you will need either the latest version of Safari or the Chrome browser to fully experience these CSS3 experiments.

iOS Icons Made in Pure CSS

iPhone CSS3

Pure CSS Twitter Fail Whale

Pure CSS Animated 3D Super Mario Icon

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

iCandies Icon Set: 60 Free Icons For Your User Interfaces and Apps

Vitaly Friedman — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:08:48 +0000

Today we are glad to release iCandies Icon Set, a set with 60 high quality icons in 64×64px, 48×48px and 32×32px, available in .EPS, .AI and .PNG. The set is designed by the talented folks from IconEden on a sole purpose of giving your projects a sleek and geeky style or provide crisp, attractive icons for your modern and fashionable-looking interfaces. All the icons in this pack — 60 icons in total — are designed in Round Rectangle shape.

Download the icon set for free!

You can use the set for all of your projects for free and without any restrictions. You can freely use it for both your private and commercial projects, including software, online services, templates and themes. The set may not be resold, sublicensed or rented. Please link to this article if you want to spread the word.

large preview
download the set (.zip, 5.1 Mb)

A word from the designers

As always, here are some words from the designers of the set:

Dear Smashing Magazine readers,Â

IconEden’s 2nd birthday is coming! And we’re as excited about it as you’re. To celebrate our two years of rocking the icon design world, IconEden collaborated with Smashing Magazine to craft a small set of 60 wonderful icons called “iCandies”! And it’s all yours.Â

Similar to previous collections, iCandies comes in vector and pixel formats and can be immediately be built into your projects at no cost. You can use the icons for any commercial and personal projects.

Thank you very much, guys! We appreciate your efforts.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that there is a Smashing eBook Series? Book #1 is Professional Web Design, 242 pages for just $9,90.]

You may be interested in the following related releases:

Beautiful Beach and Palms Wallpapers for Your Desktop

vitaly — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:18:08 +0000

We love to spice up your desktop with nice wallpapers, and sometimes with nature photography. It all depends on your mood. In this post, weâ€™ll be showcasing Beautiful Beach Wallpapers. Youâ€™ll get to see the detail, skill, and dedication that go into creating these incredible wallpapers, and how they help fuel our daily lives with inspiration and beauty of nature.