Design Process: “Sick” Metal Band T-Shirt

Faking Depth of Field in Photoshop (w/Ps action)

Here’s a quick technique that I use to fake depth of field in Photoshop and add realism to my images. I’ve seen this technique mentioned in various tutorials I’ve read, so it’s really nothing new. But it’s a good trick…

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Quick Global Swatches In Adobe Illustrator

Global swatches in Adobe Illustrator: they’re awesome. If you’re not aware of the power that is a global swatch, they are special color swatches that are applied like regular swatches, but when the swatch is changed, all vector objects using…

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Aged Type Effect in Photoshop (w/Ps Action)

While working on the poster for DIT Fest last week I managed to create an impressive text effect that I will likely reuse for awhile. It’s very subtle and does not look like a filter. I’m simply adding a slightly…

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Living In A Die-Cut World

I spot die-cut Assuming you’re in the print or design community, I’m sure you can appreciate my hyper-awareness to the massive amounts of die-cut materials sprinkled throughout our every day lives.  Scattered around my kitchen, I’m seeing cereal boxes, pizza…

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Preparing InDesign Files for your Print Service

Often times when it comes to preparing files for a printer it can get really complicated really fast. Often times when I’m creating a design there are a lot of elements that I use in a file, most of which…

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Using Transform Again in Illustrator

Full Color Rollovers in Flash

In this tutorial, we will create a Flash file with a simple, yet eye-catching effect — a black & white photo with full-color rollovers. We will initially edit the photo in Photoshop, then import and complete the file in Flash.…

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Go Media’s Rapid-Fire Illustration Technique

3D Typography in Photoshop

InDesign Quick Tip: Indent To Here

Use the Adobe InDesign “Indent To Here” feature to indent bulleted lists and indent lines in a paragraph independently of a paragraph’s left indent value.

Photoshop vs. Illustrator: Part 2

Text Tool Tips

So you’re a keyboard shortcut junkie, working on a design. You need to add text. You select the Text tool in Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign and add your text. But how does one jump to other tools—permanently or temporarily—while having…

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Photoshop vs. Illustrator: Part 1

80’s Style Design Using Photoshop

The 80’s have always had an iconic impact on Pop Culture. I have been seeing a lot of 80’s inspired designs on the internet, but never found a tutorial. So, here’s a simple tutorial inspired by the 80’s. This is…

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Photoshop Quick Tip: Finding Layers Quickly

Polishing Your PSD: 3 Friendly Reminders for Front-End Sanity

So you’re a visual designer who wants to suck up to a certain front-end hat guy. Wouldn’t it be a great gesture to clean-house and organize your file so the slicer doesn’t ‘slip’ and accidentally butcher your brilliant work? Some…

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Photoshop Tip: Sharpening with Photoshop’s High-Pass Filter

Need to give an image a little boost? Whether it needs a bit more contrast, or needs to be sharper, Photoshop’s High Pass filter can add a dynamic result without spending too much time.

Introduction to 2.5D Compositing Tutorial [Video]

I am sure that all of you at one time or another have experimented After Effects’ 3D world, and for beginners it can be quite the concept to wrap your head around. Along with being able to animate in 2D space, you can actually manipulate, move and place objects in Z space as well as the X and Y plane.

Create a Complete Apparel Tech Pack

So you just spent 10 or more hours creating a crazy t-shirt design and your client has officially signed off…so what now? You may have created stellar photo-realistic mockups and used tons of really cool colors- but none of this…

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DIY Striped T-Shirt in 3 Easy Steps

Barton Damer gave us permission to repost his handy DIY guide on making a striped t-shirt in your own backyard with just a spray bottle, duct tape, some bleach, and some good ole American ingenuity. This weekend I had some…

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Top 5 Time Saving Short Cuts in After Effects

The following 5 short cuts will save you in expensive pain medication from staring at your screen for far too many hours. I know they’ve saved me in the past. Here’s a little video I did for this article to…

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Create A Vector Art Twitter Bird Character Icon In Adobe Illustrator

In-depth Adobe Illustrator tutorial detailing the process of creating an original cartoon-style Twitter bird character vector illustration. From sketch to vector, this tutorial will not only walk you through the steps, but also offer tips on optimal methods for creating your vector art with maximum editability and flexibility.

Rule Seven: Composition: putting it all together.