I knew I was going to love this book when I read this line in the introduction: “Why does the world need another Photoshop book?” You don’t have to read the author’s answer to understand why the world needs this Photoshop book; a quick look at the imagery shows you that the title Creative Photoshop is no joke.

Derek Lea’s instructional book eschews the usual “this is a layer, this is the toolbox” talk and instead focuses on artistry, and by artistry, I don’t mean tips on gradient fills and drop shadows. We’re talking rich, complex illustrations that rival those found in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual. Check out the author’s portfolio to see what I mean.

My fear when it comes to books touting the creative or artistic aspects of a digital application is that you’ll learn just one style that doesn’t translate well to most of your design or illustration needs. There’s no fear here, though. Each chapter tackles a different illustration style, including some that you wouldn’t expect to fit perfectly with Photoshop - retro art, “urban lowbrow,” antique effects, to name a few.

Though Creative Photoshop is meant for more experienced users, it doesn’t leave beginners high and dry. Thare a few early chapters that introduce new users to the basics of drawing and painting with Photoshop tools. More advanced users can learn a lot about using a graphics tablet with Photoshop and will get some tips on shape layers and tracing techniques in this section as well. Even in the early chapters, the focus is extremely high-quality artwork with special attention given (more…)

Just about everyone can remember painting with watercolors as a child. Little tin trays with a small rainbow of colors. Just add water, and brush the mixture onto the paper. The simple materials made watercolor a sensible choice for children’s paintings—no dangerous turpentine, no expensive canvases.

The simplicity of watercolor appeals to experienced artists as well. Elizabeth Groves, author of Exploring Watercolor, puts it this way, “What if instead of waiting for the ‘big idea,’ you begin painting by dropping beautiful color onto your paper and seeing where it takes you?” Watercolor is a medium that encourages exploration and experimentation.

Exploring Watercolor is meant to rekindle your interest in watercolor, no matter how many years it’s been since you last picked up a brush. I found the beginning of the book to be somewhat intimidating, because the author works only with traditional and experimental paintings that are well beyond the capabilities of a new painter. In fact, I started to worry that the book was too advanced for me, but my fears were quickly put to rest, when subsequent chapters got back to basics. (I must say, the vivid cover and the nice spiral binding that let me lay the book flat while I followed along, convinced me to keep going.)

Unlike many art books, the initial focus of Exploring Watercolor is design and composition, rather than technique. The early discussions of fundamental concepts, like flow and the focal point, will make even your first few paintings relatively pleasing to the eye.

In later chapters, specific methods are explained. As a beginner, I would have liked a little more information on materials up front. Do I want paint in pans or tubes? What are the colors I should have on hand? Are expensive brushes a worthwhile investment? Art supplies can be quite costly, so I hate to make a purchase only to find out later that I need something else. That said, (more…)

Some time ago, I wrote about Communication Arts—an ultra-professional graphic design magazine that’s a great source of inspiration. Computer Arts, the topic of today’s post, is often confused with Communication Arts, probably because the two magazines have very similar names. Computer Arts is however something very different, though no less inspiring.

UK-based Computer Arts produces several monthly magazines: Computer Arts, Computer Arts Projects, 3D World, and MacFormat. The last two are highly specialized, but the first two are incredibly useful to digital artists and designers of all sorts.

Computer Arts Projects covers a different theme in-depth every month.

Computer Arts is geared towards digital artists and illustrators. It always includes great tutorials, product reviews, artist profiles, and a CD-ROM full of software and other goodies. Computer Arts Projects is quite similar, but as the name suggests, it’s slightly more instructional in nature. Also, each issue of Computer Arts Projects is built around a specific theme.

I just picked up the “Create Perfect Characters” issue of Computer Arts Projects. It explores many areas of character artistry, everything from development to animating in Flash and After Effects, designing in 3D software, even sewing a plush character. To be honest, (more…)

Although we are well beyond the web’s infancy, developing an effective online business is still not an easy thing to do. A strong brand identity is often what’s missing. Without it, even the best business concepts will struggle and fail. Branding, specifically in an online environment, can be difficult, and there are very few resources out there for businesspeople looking to learn more about the topic.

If you search for books on web business, you’ll find lots that promise eBay riches and many that explain the basics of working from home, but few tackle the serious and challenging topic that is branding. Thankfully, Ian Corcoran does so in his book “The Art of Digital Branding”, and it just might be the only book you need on the subject.

Corcoran’s writing is engaging, even when the topic - IP addresses, domain names, search engine optimization – is unavoidably dry. Some of this content may not be new to the seasoned web designer, but for marketers and business folk, understanding the tech behind website naming is a crucial first step in understanding online branding. And if you’re so confident as to skim, this and all other sections have very handy key point wrap-ups at the end.

As the book delves further into branding, using very current site studies (Ferrari, Puma, and Manchester United to name a few), you’ll learn not only design tips but also a great deal about the psychology of branding. For example, you’ll learn how the brain takes in and makes sense of a company’s brand. (more…)

I am an engineer by training, a programmer by inclination and a web designer by chance. So, I love organizing information, I can spend hours working on a css or php problem, and I founder when it comes to the colors and the pictures. I’ve read several books about using CSS to make beautiful sites (Zen Garden, transcending css). Wonderful books, but they assume you know how to design the beautiful part of the beautiful sites. What I needed was a book for programmers that explained the basics of designing a good looking site. And, behold, perhaps a month after I thought that, The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird was published. Talk about timing. Needless to say, I rushed out, bought it, and read it.

Leading You Through the Design Process
The book is organized around the design process of the author, so not only does he tell you how to choose (more…)

There’s no question that every designer and every fine artist needs a digital portfolio—or at least every one that wants to get design jobs or gallery showings. If you haven’t spent a lot of time doing web design, this can be a daunting task.

Designing a Digital Portfolio is written for the artist or designer that works on many standalone pieces (like illustrations, brochures, photographs, or even short films), and has not had the need to consider things like navigation, information architecture, and screen presentation before. The aim of this book is to get you familiar with digitizing and presenting your work digitally, and in turn to be able to use this digital portfolio to further your career. (more…)

It’s been over four years since I moved away from New York City. And if you had asked me last week if I missed the city’s public art, I might have shrugged and said, “Yeah, I guess so.” But ask me now, after reading Creative Time: The Book, and it’s a different story. That’s the thing about public art in New York: It’s so ingrained in the city itself that you take it for granted, rarely thinking about the forces and meaning behind it. (more…)

After checking out the Communication Arts Photography Annual (out this month), I’ve been really thinking about creative photography. And how bad I am at it. Making this the perfect time to review Mark Galer’s Photography Foundations for Art & Design. The artistic, creative focus of this book quickly takes you out of the realm of generic photography basics and gets you thinking hard about the meaning behind your shots. (more…)

Years ago, digital designers turned to the Macintosh platform because the essential applications performed better there than on Windows. In fact, the earliest versions of Photoshop and Illustrator were Mac-only.

Today, these applications run just fine on Windows, but Mac remains the industry standard for design. So why not make the most out of the platform you use every day? (more…)

I was just telling fellow blogger Nomi Altabef how I love textbooks-like books: classic, structured, almost cold, getting right to the point, and highlighting the importance of the topic. That’s what Typographic Systems is all about—rules, structure, organization. We’re not talking beach reading here, but that’s why I love it.

Following up on her books Grid Systems and Geometry of Design, Kimberly Elam walks us through eight geometric systems, frameworks for typography design that are far less rigid than they sound. In fact, they’re often downright approachable, flowing, and spontaneous. (more…)