CreativePro.Com Illustration

Scanning Around With Gene: Everybody Loves a Party!

GeneGable — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:21:03 -0700

Back in the day, no party was complete without a few goofy games to "break the ice." Perhaps the need for party games is best summed up in the introduction to "Grown Up Party Fun" by Elsie Duncan Yale: "Let's play something!" exclaims the life-of-the-party as the talk begins to lag. Then he suggests a game to suit the crowd, and the fun is on for a whole rollicking evening!" Elsie recommends Ping Pong as one way to get the rollicking going.

Today's images are from party books dating from 1927 through to 1971. Click on any image for a larger version.

Create Better Drawings & Paintings from Photos with AKVIS Sketch 10

Editor in Chief — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:47:31 -0700

AKVIS Software Inc. releases version 10 of AKVIS Sketch for Windows and Macintosh.

Free For All: Winter Holidays Edition

Editor in Chief — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:18:15 -0700

Happy Holidays!

Allow me to kick off the gift-giving season while helping you bundle up against the bitter chill of uninspiration with this jolly collection of Christmas, Hanukah, New Year’s, and winter clip art, photos, fonts, and other fare. Remember: You can download one free resource tonight; you have to wait to unwrap the rest tomorrow morning.

Fonts

Scanning Around With Gene: The Images of Autumn

GeneGable — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:32:32 -0600

When I was growing up in southern California, the change of seasons was most noticeable in the lower hourly rates charged at beach parking lots. The only changing fall colors in Los Angeles are the intensity of people’s tans.

So when I moved to northern California, I was glad to be far enough north to get a hint of what fall is really all about. I live near wine country and the intensity of colors in the vineyards is impressive, though it still pales in comparison to some communities in the Northeast.

Logo for Maker of Little Blue Pill Gets a Makeover

Editor in Chief — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:25:15 -0700

The motto of the venerable and successful Siegel+Gale branding company is "Simple is smart." It followed that slogan to the letter in its recent retooling of the logo for pharmaceutical company Pfizer:

What do you think of the changes to the logo? Is it better, worse, or about the same? To speak up, click one of the Comments buttons above or below this article.

Flickr Friday Archives

Editor in Chief — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:27:39 -0600

This weekly CreativePro.com feature showcases graphics (photos, vector illustrations, and videos) from online image-sharing site Flickr. Some of these have even been approved for commercial use under the Creative Commons license. That means that as long as you follow the license details outlined by the creator, you can use the materials in your own work for free!

Flickr Friday: July 31, 2009

Industry Analysis: The Quiet Revolution in Proprietary File Formats

admin — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 03:10:12 -0700

From The Pfeiffer Report. To learn more about The Pfeiffer Report, click here.

Add Language Support to InDesign & Illustrator CS4

Editor in Chief — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:19:21 -0700

Press release

International software developer and distributor WinSoft announced the release of its newest products: ScribeDOOR for Illustrator CS4 and ScribeDOOR for InDesign CS4. ScribeDOOR adds the ability to edit and treat text in 21 complex languages, including Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi as well as many Indic and South-East Asian languages, to two of Adobe's powerful design and desktop publishing applications.

Scanning Around With Gene: Oddball Image Roundup Two

GeneGable — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:21:11 -0600

As I go through various publications and other sources looking for images, I always end up with a small pile of oddballs – images that catch my eye for one reason or another but don’t really fit in any one category. Sometimes they end up in the pile because the artwork is strange, sometimes because the message is disturbing, and sometimes because they are out of place for the time.

So once a year I round them up and present them in this hodge-podge collection. You can click on any image for a larger version.

Logo Inspiration

Editor in Chief — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:20:01 -0700

Web site YouTheDesigner has published "25 Amazing Logo Collections," a cornucopia of marks culled from Behance.net.

A few examples are below:

Scanning Around With Gene: Rest in Peace

GeneGable — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:55:36 -0600

I've never been much for visiting cemeteries, at least not to view the graves of people I've known or loved. I don't really have a good excuse for this -- it's probably just a selfish way to avoid emotions and issues that I prefer to repress.

But a recent visit to my hometown happened to coincide with the anniversaries of my father's and sister's deaths, which happened one day apart, though in different years. So my other sister and my mother convinced me to go along on their annual pilgrimage to the Holy Cross Cemetery where both my sister and father are buried.

Affordable Webinar on Cut-Paper Art

Editor in Chief — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:36:33 -0600

Press release

Cut paper has long been part of craft traditions around the world. From silhouettes in turn-of-the-century Europe to Mexico's papel picado ("perforated paper"), intricate paper cut-outs have informed and shaped visual culture. In the past few years, cut paper has seen a major revival among contemporary artists and designers, who are inspired by paper's malleability, its ephemeral quality, and its power to convey a broad range of meanings.   

In this webcast you will learn about:  
• The fascinating, multi-cultural history of cut-paper art. 

History of the CBS Eye Logo

Editor in Chief — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:13:26 -0600

A post on John Nack's blog alerted me to a fascinating piece done by radio and television commentator Charles Osgood on the evolution of the CBS eye logo.

Watch the video for the creative brief, original sketches, and the logo's eventual domination on air, on paper, and on buildings.

Scanning Around With Gene: Illustrations Carved in Steel

GeneGable — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:42:17 -0600

I recently came across an 1883 edition of “Mountain, Lake and River” with illustrations by the English artist William Henry Bartlett. It contains 25 steel engravings, all of mountains and waterways in the United States' East Coast.

Bartlett was a popular engraver/artist at the early part of the nineteenth century, producing mostly small engravings from his travels throughout the world. He lived from 1809 to 1854. The images here are most likely from the 1830s. Click on any image for a larger version.

Here is the book cover along with two views of Niagara Falls.

Old-Fashioned Photoshop Brushes

Editor in Chief — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:22:23 -0700

You can download any of the following Photoshop brush sets for free. If you need an introduction to brushes, the article "Understanding the Brushes Palette" is a bit dated but does a good job covering the basics.

1940 Cosmopolitan Brushes