Visual Arts Journal

Photographers, Musicians, Graphic Designers, Web Designers, Digital Animators, Programmers and anyone working with digital media or products
This is a site you are going to want to check out. Envato is more than a brand or a successful business model, it’s a mindset. In a few short years Envato has changed the way freelancers and product developers (referred to as authors on their site) develop skills, market their products and build a community (aka following). (continue reading…)

Kassan has Ventured into Digital
As you may have guessed David Jon Kassan on the short list of favorite artists here at VAJ Blog. So I welcome any opportunity to share what he has been creating. He is widely known for his pencil, charcoal, chalk and oil works but is less known for his new digital works. (continue reading…)

Recommended for All Creatives, Regardless of Industry

I have a great resource for you today. I’m recommending a blog that covers a very wide range of topics not only on design, but on creativity in general. The blog author has many years of experience in art, design, music and a fairly new (or perhaps very old — ) area of study called “Whole Systems Design”; boiled down more or less to — the big picture and how to get it to work.

He offers an approchable style of instruction and art directorship that few freelancers have an opportunity to experience on a continual basis. (continue reading…)

Designed to Quickly Convert files to JPEG
I found this tip in Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Vol.3 book. By the way, anything Scott Kelby authors is always recommended reading. This tip not only saves card space but potentially plenty of file conversion time. It effectively eliminates the need to shoot dual Raw and JPEGs when you need low resolution images. (continue reading…)

So What’s the Big Deal?
As a graphic designer, flash or prepress specialist, or anyone involved with digital media, it is common to inherit some one else’s project files. Perhaps you even file share with your co-workers or have purchased templates online. Waded through someone else’s image catalog lately? Wasting time can become a very big deal in a hurry. Find out how to ward-off future delays and save your sanity. Advice for several major file types and best practices in general. (continue reading…)

A New Tutorial Series
Do you have a damaged or blah photo but you don’t know how to fix it? Perhaps you haven’t been please with earlier attempts to Photoshop images? Well this series is for you. This series will include concepts, best practices and some specific how-to instructions for the beginner and intermediate Photoshop or Photoshop Elements user. If you are using other software, you can still make use of most of the content by adapting the instructions to suit your software.

In this post, I’ll be referring to both restoration and enhancement but in future posts the two topics will be addressed separately within the series, so check the Blog often for multiple posts. (continue reading…)

An Industry Standard
A quality magazine that is considered a “must have” for many photographers. The content highlights two or three really cool Photoshop tutorials and an article or two. Filling out the rest of the pages are a dozen or so regular columns, a handful of photo equipment reviews, Lightroom content and a nice spread on the current featured photographer. Also present, a lot of glossy looking advertising, which as a photographer, I do selectively glance at. (continue reading…)

SilverShotz is pricy and hard to find, but it’s drop dead gorgeous. The magazine mainly profiles the artists, or rather their portfolios, by displaying numerous very large images of their work. Text is very light but who needs it. If this doesn’t provide inspiration, I don’t know what will.  They have a one page directory in the back and no other advertising. They also have a one page book review but no other columns or content, just the big name profiles and portfolios. (continue reading…)

A Postmortem Review: Camera Arts Magazine

A small but highly inspirational magazine covering all genres and specialties of photography, fine art, photo mixed-media, portraiture, photo journalistic, etc. All the articles are keepers; I found no fillers (advertising yes but no meaningless articles). The articles tend to be more visual than text oriented and the writing is concise.

Update: A Review of the Camera Arts Magazine Web Site
Once entirely gone, this magazine has been resold back to a previous owner (continue reading…)

I’ve been subscribed to the “Next Day Fliers” blog/newsletter for a while now and they consistently send great tips and suggestions about a range of topics. In many instances they benefit your skill-set more than the outright marketing sent my other businesses. I really look forward to their emails.

A while back they sent a great collection of business card ideas using die cuts. This month (Aug ’09) they sent a collection of great digital art/photoshop tutorials. Thank you NDF.

Related Links:
www.nextdayflyers.com