GraphicRiver

[graphicriver]

Farewell Tumblr, It's Been A Blast

In late January we moved the Envato Marketplace blogs here to Tumblr, and it has been a blast. A crazy 4,006 posts later over seven tumblogs, we've come to appreciate Tumblr's speed and flexibility, its informal atmosphere, its variety of post types, its integration with other social media sites, and its bookmarklet that allows you to create Tumblr content from just about anywhere.

Many of you have found a home at Tumblr too, with 1,252 of you creating your own tumblogs and following us. If you'd like to give your new home a fresh coat of paint, you'll want to check out ThemeForest's Tumblr Themes section and pick out something that appeals.

But it's time for us to move on. A new unified blog called Envato Notes will be launched in the next day or so. The new blog will support marketplace authors, sharing tips and giving advice that will help you market yourself more effectively. It will also be a central place for the community to get together and keep up with the latest Envato news.

Besides visiting the new blog, make sure you're following GraphicRiver on Twitter, hang out on the GraphicRiver forums, and keep your skills up to date by regularly visiting Psdtuts+ and Vectortuts+.

See you around!

[graphicriver]

Create a Glowing Neon Sign using the Appearance Palette

"This tutorial shows the potential the Appearance Palette in Adobe Illustrator. We’ll be building an elaborate neon sign, utilizing the Appearance Palette to speed up the process and remove the need of drawing complex paths.

"To understand what is possible with the Appearance Palette, have a look at the image below. A simple path can be turned into fairly complex vector artwork simply by applying multiple fills and effects. With this in mind, let’s get started."

[graphicriver]

Exclusive Brush Pack – 15 Wicked Wings

"Photoshop brushes are a popular type of resource because they can be used to not only apply an effect to a graphic but also as clip art as well. Today, we are giving away a set of 15 Photoshop brushes that can be used to easily add wings to your designs. Download this set of brushes and use them in your next design for free!"

[graphicriver]

Mobile UI: How to Redesign the Spendometer iPhone App (Part 1)

"This tutorial series will demonstrate all the steps necessary for redesigning an iPhone application with Photoshop. You will learn many of the unique considerations and design patterns used when creating stand-out app interfaces. This tutorial is presented in two parts in collaboration with Mobiletuts+, where you will be able to find an increasing amount of mobile design related tutorials in the future. Read the second part of this series and download the interface PSD on Mobiletuts+."

[graphicriver]

The file of the day is Fly Away Pages by Visualz.

"These fly away pages are smart objects. Changing the image is a simple as clicking and selecting your own graphic, which means you can have your own fly away pages in seconds."

[graphicriver]

How to Illustrate a Luminous Vector Sunset

"In this tutorial you will learn how to create Vector Sunset, using the RGB color model. Using Art and Scatter Brushes, Gaussian Blur, Gradient Mesh and the Transparency palette, you will create a vector image with depth and luminance."

[graphicriver]

Social Media and Graphic Designers - Pros and Cons

"Social Media is not a new name and almost everybody is pretty much acquainted with the uses and effects of social media websites. In this techno-oriented world, social media networking is a prevailing trend that continues to grow with increasing awareness. People from all walks of life are prone to its usage. Likewise, graphic designers are also into using social media websites and many of them are pretty fond of it. However, what I have noticed is that with the growing challenges of graphic designing, social media has become more of a necessity for every graphic designer."

[graphicriver]

If You Were Not A Designer, What Would You Be?

"You have finished your tertiary education; what’s next? You find yourself at the crossroads between being a full time student and a working adult. It’s time to take the plunge and find a job. What job do you choose? The choice of one’s career can be determined by various factors. However, two push factors stand out above the rest – Money and Passion."

[graphicriver]

The file of the day is Character & Monster Creation Kit – Create us by RZDESIGN.

"We know there are too less monster and character creation kits available on GraphicRiver and we know you want more! Well, there you go! We made this awesome fresh and colorful character & monster creation kit / pack just for you! Get ready to create over 25.410 (yeah really!) variations with this monster kit. And we didn’t even count the color variations… because you can pick any color you want yourself! (And there are like… millions of colors?) So, get ready and use this easy to use creation kit to make your own monsters/aliens/characters or whatever you like!"

[graphicriver]

Inspiration: 30+ Feisty Felines

"Cats are creatures of sheer beauty. They are willful, independent, and proud animals. Come with us and explore the many personalities of cats in this hand picked collection of images."

[graphicriver]

Create a Classic American Diner with Perspective Drawing Tools

"With the release of Illustrator CS5, Adobe introduces the new Perspective Drawing tool set, which allows you to create images in accurate 1-, 2- or 3-point perspective. Perspective Drawing alleviates tedious measuring and scaling, letting you concentrate on artistry, not arithmetic. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to set up a Perspective Grid and use the Perspective tools to draw and modify shapes. You’ll learn how to use and edit Symbols and live text, all in perspective. We’ll also review best practices for perspective drawing."

[clientsfromhell]

Clients from Hell

[graphicriver]

clientsfromhell:

[Client sent me some complex logos (as JPEGs) in order to vectorize them.]

Client: “What exactly is taking so long? If I knew it would take so long, I’d have done it myself.”

Me: “Vectorizing the logos takes some time because—”

Client: “Time? Renaming files from *.jpg to *.eps takes time?!”

[graphicriver]

Use Illustrator and Photoshop to Create a 3D String of Pills – Screencast

"Designers often use both Illustrator and Photoshop to create a scene or graphic. Today we will combine both of these powerful applications to create a 3-dimensional pill and then create a composite image using these elements. Let’s get started!"

[graphicriver]

This week's featured item is Infographic Elements + Template by CursiveQ.

"All the Graphs, Charts, Lines, Shapes, Text you will need to put together your very own Infographic. I have even included an Infographic Template to get you started!"

[graphicriver]

Quick Tip: How to Create a Stylized Wave using Adobe Illustrator

"In this tutorial you will learn how to create some stylized waves, using the Pathfinder, Envelope Distort with Mesh and various Gradients. You will also learn how to use Scatter Brushes to create the foam effect. Let’s begin!"

[graphicriver]

Tuesday Total Textures #31

"Tuesday Total Textures is post series that will bring a new life to your Tuesdays. Every week I'll be posting some free hi resolution textures that you can use in your projects. Check out this week's textures, download the ones you like and start making your texture collection."

[graphicriver]

Inspiration: 26 Beautiful Photo Manipulations of Women

"Throughout history the female figure has appeared prominently in art and design. Tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator have given artists the ability to create female-based renderings in new and creative ways. Today, we have 25 beautiful photo manipulations of women to show you. Enjoy!"