Art & Design Links and Resources
I'm not sure if this will prove helpful for anyone, but I decided to type up this smallish list of links to prospective resource sites as I was cleaning up my bookmarks earlier today. Some of them you may all already know about, although I'm pretty sure there are a few here that are less well-known throughout the world of LJ icon making. If this does prove interesting to anyone besides myself, I may post more in future. Enjoy.
ffffound - An image bookmarking site that attempts to match images to your preferences based on what you've previously viewed. Images are uploaded by users from across the web, so make sure what you think is a stock photo is in fact a stock photo and not a picture of someone's granny that got knicked from someone's flickr account before you start on your masterpiece.
Design Bum - Photoshop and Illustrator resources. The photo pack filled with light photography is worth it alone, but the artist also provides four HUGE PSD files full of resources (and you just might learn something too) plus a handful of vector resources for Illustrator.
Paint Like Pollock - I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly don't have the time (or inclination) to get out my paints in order to create paint splatters for my art (unless someone's paying me for my time, mind). Time consuming, messy, costly - use this site instead. Create your own Jackson Pollock masterpiece and incorporate it into your art.
Art Pad - Another web based painter program. It's not as nice as the Pollock one, but it's good in a pinch. If you need paint splatters quick for a piece of art but don't have the time to make your own or weed through hundreds of photos for the perfect piece of stock, make your own w/this.
SXC - Stock photography. If you're unaware of this one, you've probably been living under a rock. If that is the case, then go have a bath b/c you smell, but when you're done w/that, this is the mother of all free stock photo sites.
Morgue File - Stock photography. Huge, beautiful, high quality, free images.
What the Font - Upload an image of the font you're trying to name, answer a few questions and What the Font will try to find it for you. It's not an exact science, and I've had it suggest some pretty off-base fonts in the past, but it's a nifty tool all the same.
Wordle - Text generator. Input your text and Wordle will create a text cloud for you. You can use the resulting image for your art, icons, wallpapers, headers, etc.
bittbox - Textures, Stock, Brushes, Fonts, etc.
Photoshop Support - Massive collection of PS tutorials. These are not your average, amateur tutorials so I would suggest you only bother w/it if you honestly want to learn something new or improve on your general Photoshop skills.
Colour Lovers - Colour palettes, colour inspiration, etc.
Colour Codes Chart - An extensive chart of colour codes. Great for layout and texture making.
Color Blender - More colour palettes.
Web Designer Wall - Tutorials. There is also tons of information which may interest those involved in web design and general graphic design.
swissmiss - Blog for Brooklyn based graphic designer Tina Roth Eisenberg. In addition to interesting and inspiring blog entries, Eisenberg's blog hosts a TON of links and resources.
Smashing Magazine - I think most of those in the design world know about this site, but for those who don't: BOOKMARK IT. Tons of resources including textures, fonts, tutorials and more.
PSD Tuts - The name is a bit deceiving as it's not merely a site for PSDs, but for tutorials in general. You can pay a fee for access to more tutorials; however, I've found the free tutorials to be more than enough. Also, if you've got a tutorial that you think is good enough send it in and if they publish it they'll pay you. Worth a look for the links if nothing else.
Blue Vertigo - Links, links, links, OMG MOAR LINKS. If you don't bookmark anything else, bookmark this site.
Brusheezy - Brushes. You'll have to do a bit of digging to find the nice stuff, but it's worth it.
PDF Mags - Does what it says on the tin. A site dedicated to providing information and links to magazines focused on art, culture and graphic design in PDF format. So if you're a cheap bastard like me, you can keep up w/the art and graphic design world on the cheap using this site.
ffffound - An image bookmarking site that attempts to match images to your preferences based on what you've previously viewed. Images are uploaded by users from across the web, so make sure what you think is a stock photo is in fact a stock photo and not a picture of someone's granny that got knicked from someone's flickr account before you start on your masterpiece.
Design Bum - Photoshop and Illustrator resources. The photo pack filled with light photography is worth it alone, but the artist also provides four HUGE PSD files full of resources (and you just might learn something too) plus a handful of vector resources for Illustrator.
Paint Like Pollock - I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly don't have the time (or inclination) to get out my paints in order to create paint splatters for my art (unless someone's paying me for my time, mind). Time consuming, messy, costly - use this site instead. Create your own Jackson Pollock masterpiece and incorporate it into your art.
Art Pad - Another web based painter program. It's not as nice as the Pollock one, but it's good in a pinch. If you need paint splatters quick for a piece of art but don't have the time to make your own or weed through hundreds of photos for the perfect piece of stock, make your own w/this.
SXC - Stock photography. If you're unaware of this one, you've probably been living under a rock. If that is the case, then go have a bath b/c you smell, but when you're done w/that, this is the mother of all free stock photo sites.
Morgue File - Stock photography. Huge, beautiful, high quality, free images.
What the Font - Upload an image of the font you're trying to name, answer a few questions and What the Font will try to find it for you. It's not an exact science, and I've had it suggest some pretty off-base fonts in the past, but it's a nifty tool all the same.
Wordle - Text generator. Input your text and Wordle will create a text cloud for you. You can use the resulting image for your art, icons, wallpapers, headers, etc.
bittbox - Textures, Stock, Brushes, Fonts, etc.
Photoshop Support - Massive collection of PS tutorials. These are not your average, amateur tutorials so I would suggest you only bother w/it if you honestly want to learn something new or improve on your general Photoshop skills.
Colour Lovers - Colour palettes, colour inspiration, etc.
Colour Codes Chart - An extensive chart of colour codes. Great for layout and texture making.
Color Blender - More colour palettes.
Web Designer Wall - Tutorials. There is also tons of information which may interest those involved in web design and general graphic design.
swissmiss - Blog for Brooklyn based graphic designer Tina Roth Eisenberg. In addition to interesting and inspiring blog entries, Eisenberg's blog hosts a TON of links and resources.
Smashing Magazine - I think most of those in the design world know about this site, but for those who don't: BOOKMARK IT. Tons of resources including textures, fonts, tutorials and more.
PSD Tuts - The name is a bit deceiving as it's not merely a site for PSDs, but for tutorials in general. You can pay a fee for access to more tutorials; however, I've found the free tutorials to be more than enough. Also, if you've got a tutorial that you think is good enough send it in and if they publish it they'll pay you. Worth a look for the links if nothing else.
Blue Vertigo - Links, links, links, OMG MOAR LINKS. If you don't bookmark anything else, bookmark this site.
Brusheezy - Brushes. You'll have to do a bit of digging to find the nice stuff, but it's worth it.
PDF Mags - Does what it says on the tin. A site dedicated to providing information and links to magazines focused on art, culture and graphic design in PDF format. So if you're a cheap bastard like me, you can keep up w/the art and graphic design world on the cheap using this site.