How to Create an Inspirational Poster Design


Today we will create a poster in the style of PSA (Public Service Ad). These ads are intended to develop new social values. Philippe Patrick Starck, an iconic designer, said: “The designer can and should participate in the search for meaning, the construction of a civilized world.” Well, let’s participate.

Continue reading “How to Create an Inspirational Poster Design”

Quick Tip: Create an InDesign Table from an Excel File


In this tutorial we are going to take a look at how to create a table from an Excel file using Table Styles. To spice things little bit up we will add a neat drop shadow effect to our table and also a nice background image. Let’s get started!

Continue reading “Quick Tip: Create an InDesign Table from an Excel File”

Getting The Ultimate Guitar Sound – Part 1 – Audio Premium

In this week’s Audio Premium content, Bobby Owsinski begins a new series on getting the ultimate guitar sound. Bobby has spent a lifetime achieving just that, and the series is based on his new book, The Ultimate Guitar Tone Handbook.

To learn more about what you get as part of Audio Premium, read this. To take a peek inside this tutorial, hit the jump!

If you’ve been reading my postings here at Audiotuts+, you’ve probably figured out by now that I’m a guitar player. The fact is I spent a great part of my life making my way in the music business as a guitar player on the road and in the studio, so I understand better than most the journey to find the ultimate tone that most guitar players, engineers and producers are on. That’s one of the reasons that I wrote The Ultimate Guitar Tone Handbook with fellow guitarist Rich Tozzoli. You can go down the rabbit hole of spending lots of money trying to find the tone that’s in your head, only to find yourself happy with your tone for only a very short time before the search begins again.

The problem is that there are so many factors that goes into acoustic or electric guitar tone, and unfortunately, most of them are overlooked by the player. Keep in mind that the largest part of the guitar player’s tone is the player himself, but let’s take him out of the equation for a moment and look at some of the other factors that bring an electric guitar (the first part of the series) to life.

Table of Contents

  • The Wood
  • The Finish
  • The Neck
  • The Bridge
  • The Tailpiece
  • The Pickups
  • The Pick
  • The Strings

Existing Premium members can log-in and download. Not a Plus member? Join now.


Read More

Amazing Digital Animal Paintings of Patrick LaMontagne

Award-winning editorial cartoonist Patrick LaMontagne doesn’t have to go far to find the inspiration for his animal paintings. He lives in the Canadian Rockies, just outside of Banff National Park, so looking out his windows is enough to get the creative juices flowing.

This is how his series of Rocky Mountain animal paintings came to fruition. He calls them totems, because there comes a point in the creation process where the once blank canvas takes on a life of its own. "The life and personality in them is like I’m being given a gift each time, because it feels like magic when it happens. It comes at different times for each painting, but there is a moment when I’m painting one of the animals, where the personality just shows up. On more than one occasion, I’ve literally said out loud, "there you are," and it’s such a wonderful feeling," he said.

LaMontagne begins his process with pencil sketches before moving to Photoshop CS4 on his Wacom tablet- he uses the medium-sized Intuos4 model. He selects an animal photo, secures the rights and uses it as a reference to ensure he’s capturing the true nature of the animal he’s working on. Just like painting with more traditional mediums, LaMontagne starts with a blank canvas in front of him and it’s only after 15-20 hours of work with mostly custom brushes, does he meet the animal that has manifested itself on the screen. He starts the process in 72 ppi but once he’s into the intricate details like fur and hair, he increases to 300 ppi. He continually goes back and forth from the image’s history to the current file until the piece reaches a point where his changes aren’t noticeable anymore. Only then does he know his work is done.

Grizzly Bear Totem was the first in his Rocky Mountain animal series and it was the most rewarding for him because it took his artistic abilities to an entirely new level. Here LaMontagne shares with us the different stages of creation this particular painting went through.

Grizzly Bear Totem

LaMontagne established himself as a caricature artist by painting people for years, so the challenge for this piece was taking that knowledge and translating that into an animal. "It was my first animal painting so a lot of it was just trial and error, (lots of error), just figuring out what would work and what wouldn’t," he said.

Wolf Totem

This piece was selected as "Best in Show" at this year’s Guru Awards ceremony during the Photoshop World expo. "The big challenge on this one was the fur. I really wanted it to feel like you could run your fingers through it. The expression was relatively easy to find on this one, but I wanted the eyes to just leap off the canvas or screen."

Elk Totem

The third in his series, LaMontagne found the antlers of the elk the most challenging part because he wanted to "suggest" them without actually showing them. The angle he chose for the animal posed its own set of challenges, "I had to maintain the structure of his skull and nose, while still making him smirk. I tried to give him a big smile, but just couldn’t do it. Once I stopped trying to force it, the personality of the elk seemed to emerge on its own."

Moose Totem

Another Guru award winner (Illustration), composition was the challenge because of the moose’s large antlers. "Expression and detail is everything for me with these and if I included the whole rack, it would mean that the head would be a lot smaller, and I’d lose the detail in the eyes and fur, so I had to suggest large antlers without actually showing all of them."

Ground Squirrel Totem

LaMontagne had to make this squirrel appear small without actually drawing him small for this piece which he did by playing with a depth of field effect in the grass. The grass in the front is painted on another layer, and then a Gaussian blur was applied to it to make it appear out of focus. "Another challenge was that the fur I had painted up to this point had all been soft, but the ground squirrel is covered more in hair, not fur, so that presented a different challenge as the two have very different looks."

LaMontagne is completely self-taught and is constantly looking for ways to raise the bar for himself. "Often I’ll finish a painting and think, "Ok, there’s no way I’m going to top this, this is the limit of my skills." But sure enough, on the next one, I’ll find a way to go just a little bit farther. Hopefully that will keep happening."

Patrick LaMontagne on the Web

You can find more of Patrick’s work on his website.

Read More

Php Website Code Cleaning And Editing

Fairly easy job i think.
I have developed a website for my school project, a website that allows user registration and submission of files.
What i require for this job, is someone that has more advanced knowledge than me to go through my code, fix bad code, remove unnecessary one, and suggest any ideas to help out with the implementation of the code. Also i would like to find a way to combine my existing php files, to a smaller amount.

The code is for offline use only (I am using WAMP), and it is developed with PHP, HTML and CSS only. No use of ready made scripts and functions should be made, that is why my code is a bit messed up.

You will find attached the PHP files of the project, so you can have a good idea of what you are getting into!

Joomla Classifieds Website Urgent2 2

Firstly, I want only those programmars who are available for next 10-12 hours, and give me some progress immediately,
I’ve already wasted so much of time, over programmars here, and cannot affor to waste anymore time.

Secondly, This is a job which involves Joomla, a classifieds PHP script, and Lot of design changes (Css and html)
Make sure you are apt in all of them.

Now, I have a layout in html and I need the classifieds script to be fit into it.
In other words, the classifieds script should have the layout/homepage like the one I have designed. (i already have it in html)
OR, there is second option for you. If you think there isnt much scope with the script, you can creat the layout in Joomla, and provide me with a classifieds componenet installed.
Whatever of the above you find it easy. And You have to tell me how you’ll do it in pmb..I dont want silly bids

So, this was the outline. There might be some extra things like; The script may throw some errors, You might have to change joomla layout (which is but obvious if you are using joomla) Etc.

Budget Fix: $200
Do not ask me for escrows and upfronts. I have simply grown tired of them. I’ve already about 7 paypal cases running, out of which 5 are from scriptlance programmars.
So nothing until work is finished, or is half way finished. Kepp showing me progress and I’ll keep the purse open.

Groupon Script Modification And Design

Hello,

Please make sure you read all of the info below before submitting a bid. All bids will be carefully analyzed to ensure you understand what the project entails.

Project Details: We have purchased a Group Buying Software called Couponic from Uniprogy. Their website is located at: www.uniprogy.com.

We are looking for a talented PHP programmer/designer who can modify the software for us and make it resemble as closely as possible to JDEAL.Com. Again, the script is already purchased we are looking for someone who can make modifications to the script for us (design mainly).

The technology behind the Couponic software is based on YII FRAMEWORK. Please make sure you are well versed in this before submitting a bid.

*Important Details*

1) Please make sure to visit www.uniprogy.com to learn about the technology behind their software. It is based on PHP and the YII FRAMEWORK. They have a support forum which we will grant access to you as well.
2) We would like to mimic the sites design to that of JDEAL.Com. All photo’s, content, and logo’s will be provided to you. You need to be able to tweak the design and add certain new functionality. (Example: Facebook Fan likes on homepage)
3) Need to test site when complete to ensure there are no bugs and the payment system is working along with email system and other functionality.

Again, please make sure you visit their website to familiarize yourself with the technology used to ensure you can complete this project.

A Bonus will be paid out if you are successful and can complete within our specifications. Also future work will be considered if you are able to perform well.

Thank you!

Cre Loaded Programmer Needed

I need a programmer that know cre loaded affiliate program very well. i need the following things done.

1. make products have the ability to have commissions entered into each product

2. make affiliate payout 10 tiers and 50% of available commissions going to each tier.

3. make 3 – 4 levels of affiliates and each level is on a subscription. there payment must be paid to qualify for commissions.

4. each affiliate level will only get paid for X number of tiers.

5. join affiliate account and customer accounts together.

6. have a membership product i need finished up also.

7. install paypal pro

i am open to there options besides changing the current cre loaded affiliate program if you have any.

i need this all working in 8 days.

will pay via paypal when done or at certain completed points we decide on.

must have skype or yahoo for voice and chat

please talk via pmb.

Iphone & Ipad Magazine App

We need an app to be developed that would allow our readers to download each new magazine at a certain price, scroll through the pages, and zoom in/out. Users will also be able to read old issues free of charge. The magazines will be given to you in .indd format (InDesign). Separate estimate for New Issue Release is appreciated.

Here are the aspects of the project:

– iPhone and iPad app design and development.
– Aid in submission to app store.
– Allow users, in the app, to purchase and download new issues.
– Allow users, in the app, to view old issues.
– All users easy-to-read functions (swipe pages, spread fingers to zoom in/out, etc).

Please post on the Project Message Board any questions you may have!

WordPress Modifications 3 Needed

I have a WordPress site at http://zagato.websitewelcome.com/~soldbybr/

It uses the Accentuate theme (http://themeforest.net/item/accentuate-premium-wordpress-3-theme/full_screen_preview/114003)

Modifications needed:

Ability to change the order of the sliders in the Admin

In the Homepage and under the slider, the title doubles up, needs to be in own row; add third row for text

In portfolio page, make target = blank for the Property website link; and add row between the featured listings as they touch each other and are too close to each other.