Vintage Party

Vector Artwork by Hstudios

10 Digital Illustration & Design Spots

A list of digital illustration and design links you should visit:

Design @ Digg.com - Digg's design directory

Colourlovers' Blog - Inspirational color articles on trends, color palettes, patterns, etc.

The Blog section @ Digital Arts - Reviews, Tutorials and Articles on Digital Design

Computer Arts Magazine - A design magazine.

Vector Tuts - A great website with a big variety vector tutorials.

How about Orange ? - Tutorials, Free downloads and useful resources.

Design M - Articles & Resources for designers.

Net Mag - The design section of Net Magazine.

Etstetica - A Graphic Design Forum.

Deviant Art - Where Art meets application.

Winter Sports Silhouettes EPS Pack

A collection of winter sports illustrations by amikal. The pack includes shilhouette shapes of a snowboarder, hokey player and a skier.

The artwork is saved in EPS file format, you can use any vector compatible program to modify the file...

Download

Vector Grunge

A free vector stock from mykolan. Download Note: To use open the PDF file with Adobe Illustrator

The blob brush tool in Illustrator CS4

First Look: Adobe Illustrator CS4 Blob Brush Tool from Go Media on Vimeo.

What Is New In Adobe Illustrator CS4

A brief outline of the new features in our favorite vector editing software Adobe Illustrator CS4.

Multiple Art Boards
Transparency in gradients
Gradients exposed
Blob brush tool
RIA and Flash CS4 support
Enhanced GUI...

Separation preview feature
Panel-based editing
Smoother, more polished workflow
Improved direct editing experience

More details about those features, here and a comprehensive review here.

Vector Circles

A set of decorative circle shapes in different color palettes by grolix. Download Note: to use open with Adobe Illustrator

UK Irony

Logo Design Irony Concept via MedDesign Blog.

Handdrawn Wings (EPS)

Detailed hand drawn wings in vector format from stockgraphicdesigns.com. License : Free for personal and commercial use Download
Note: to use you to decompress the file with WinRar or StuffIt (MacOS)

Creative Suite 4 (cnet review)

"Adobe released details Monday about Creative Suite 4, its first update to more than a dozen design and editing tools since Adobe CS3 some 17 months ago.
The costs of the applications, set to reach consumers in October, haven't changed since CS3, but remain hefty. Should longtime users upgrade?" Read Full review

Vector Clouds

A free vector clouds pack from juliet-vanree. Free non commercial use. Contact the author here for commercial use. Download note: open the PFD file with Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator CS4 How To

Explore new features in Illustrator CS4 and play along with an editable "how to" file created by a leading designer.

Download Files (.zip)

The multiple artboards feature in Adobe Illustrator CS4

A fresh demonstration video from lynda.com. More articles and reviews for Adobe Illustrator CS4 coming soon.

Adobe CS4 Web Announcement

If interested (and free at the time), you can check the be an official CS4 web announcement tomorrow morning. There are multiple time slots to choose from. To register, go to the following URL: http://adobe. istreamplanet. com/

Pattern Swatches Tutorial

Create your own cool repeating patterns from combinations of vector elements, using these tips from Drew Cain.

Our world is filled with patterns – from ripples in a sand dune and scales on a snake to furniture and fashion – and even the tiling photos of sleeping cats that flood the background of some of the folksier blogs.

Full Tutorial via Digital Arts Magazine

Inspirational Vector Landscape Illustrations

Today's vector illustration gallery posting is actually a reference to an inspirational collection of 40 inspirational vector landscape illustrations.

To access the landscape gallery, please follow this link. "A common feature seen in all the examples is how the use of vector graphics results in a unique crisp and stylized image, ranging from colourful 'cartoon-like' designs to more abstract and geometric illustrative works." via (Vector Tuts).

Example Illustration by Ben The Illustrator.

Adobe Illustrator's Pattern Brush

The Hidden Secrets behind Adobe Illustrator's Pattern Brush from Go Media on Vimeo

12 Vector Flowers for Adobe Illustrator

Hare we have a colorful vector resource by paroledemoi. This set contains 12 extremely cute flower illustrations for Adobe Illustrator.

The vector flowers are all in different colors and shapes. They could be very useful for logo design brainstorming, decorating a digital artwork of yours or creating a seamless patterns...

The set is saved in PDF file format. To modify it, open the PDF with Illustrator using the File>Open method (Don't Use Click + Drag). Download

Stock Libraries

"Trawling image libraries for the perfect image doesn’t have to be a chore: here are eight ways to find the perfect picture.

You know the story: your project requires high-quality images, but you don’t have the time or budget to shoot your own. But when you head online to buy the images you need from stock libraries,

 you end up losing hours in searches that turn up millions of pictures that are just short of the mark and take forever to search through, or a scant collection that doesn’t give you enough creative options." Digital Arts Magazine. Full Article

Woodcut Brushes for Illustrator.

A free set of detailed woodcut brushes for Adobe Illustrator from r2010. 

If you find use of them feel free to re-edit, bend, change strke color, size and mutilate for your own design work. 

To use, you need to unzip the archive. Download

Logo Identity

Computer Arts Magazine just published a how to logo identity tutorial for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop on their website. Check it out.

"If you’re setting up on your own, you’re going to need a logo. Follow Alan Wardle’s advice on how to create a unique design...

Your logo is one of the most important things you can create. It’s the image that will represent you as a freelancer; an opportunity to embody your brand and separate yourself from the competition. Above all, it’s a tool for immediate recognition"

Source Files and Full Tutorial via Computer Arts Magazine tutorial page.

City Life

by MissMatzenbatzen

What’s the secret to creating quirky characters with mainstream appeal?

"Character-based art is one of the most popular design genres: in recent times the world has been flooded with cute, wide-eyed creatures, cool DJ chicks and cuddly monsters.
Character design is now taken seriously enough to warrant major exhibitions in prestigious art galleries, but unlike a lot of fine art, character design also has a mainstream market, meaning that it’s possible to make a career of commercial character design – and many creatives do. " Read More by Digital Arts Magazine

Stroke Cap

The term "Cap" reffers to the appearance of the endpoints on a vector path. There are three options (see image below); butt, round, and projecting. The cap attribute affects only open paths. 

To open the stroke window click on the Windowmenu >Stroke or Ctrl+F10.

Type effects with Adobe Illustrator

"Many graphic designers, illustrators and digital artists use Illustrator on a daily basis for creating fantastic vector images, but the application’s typography tools are often overlooked – or at least, not used to their full potential." Go to tutorial page. by Digital Arts Magazine