Commission

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:45:04 +0000

Working on a new coloring style for commissions and comics going for speed and flair and liking this one. I’ll have to do a tutorial on how to do that shiny glitter rubber texture on the guy on the right’s suit sometime.

Screentones

admin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:06:16 +0000

Screentones are great. Printing comics/manga in color is still insanely expensive but black and white can be done easily. Here’s some very helpful links for all you would be toners out there. Enjoy!:

Psychobob’s House ‘o Screentones: More tones, patterns, brushes etc than you know what to do with! No super manga texturing brushes (Still have to pay for those from me heh) but great resources for those who know what they’re doing.
Screentones through Deviant Art: good tone resource at high enough rez to print
Warriortree Manga Brushes: Click the squid if you want to buy a copy of the best brushes for comic artists for only $15.00 (182 and counting brushes for comic artists and 3d artists or anybody else who needs to get some bad ass texturing done in no time)

Make a pencil brush in Photoshop

admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:45:07 +0000

Great brush tutorial

Click here to view the embedded video.

Microstock is a sham

admin — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:16:23 +0000

Fair Trade Photographer makes a good point!

“Companies need to think more carefully about the images they use. I suspect many businesses are unaware that the photos their designer has sold them are spread a-dime-a-dozen across the web. There is a good reason that microstock’s original catchphrase was “the designer’s dirty little secret”.

At the very least, reputable companies should look at using rights-managed rather than royalty-free images, so they will KNOW if the image is being used elsewhere and whether a competitor (or sometimes something even worse: “Cosmetic Surgery for mens, Get your Dream Shape like stars”) is using the same ‘team’ to represent their company. Or maybe they should follow HireView Magazine’s lead and actually hire a photographer to take real pictures of real people who work at their company. They may not be perfect, they may cost a bit more, but they will look genuine, and honest. And not just… cheap.”

Companies that sell stock for such a low price make it impossible for the freelancer to make money and just encourage sites, designs, brochures etc to all look the same. Support innovation by hiring a freelancer who doesn’t stoop to such levels! Cheap and easy does NOT always equal a good business choice.

Latest project

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:19:57 +0000

New entry for Worth1000. “What would it be like to be a fly on the wall and spy on everything going on around us and not be seen?! I know I would have fun…what an exposé I would be able write!!In this contest we want you to show us how we humans can blend in with our surroundings as shown in this wonderful themepost by aards2. They can either have skin that changes color like a chameleon, or they can be making use of fantastic new technology, or they may be wearing cunning clothing that blends with the background. Just don’t hide them so well that we can’t see them at all. ;)”

UPDATE: Won the gold in the Worth1000 contest by a good percentage point. Not bad for 20 minutes fooling around.

click for a larger view and to see the whole thing

Federal Street 3d Extreme Texture Brush set

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 05:47:54 +0000

Extreme enough for ya?

New brush set out, only from Turbosquid! This brush set includes the first three Warriortree* sets (organic, manga ink, and hair) + the currently unreleased skin and wound pack along with another set of organic textures and grunge brushes never released. Why buy four separate sets when you can just get one? Visit the Squiddies, they’ll hook you up with my brush goodness.

Click below for some more previews

Sample

*Federal Street 3d is my brand with Squid which has special discount brush sets, models, stock etc that’s only with them.

Game Companies In Pittsburgh

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:24:49 +0000

The Pittsburgh City Paper had an interesting article on new game companies coming to Pittsburgh. They’ve been slow coming here because, unlike the movie industry, there is no big tax credit for starting up in this area. Here’s a link to the article, its quite interesting. Pittsburgh is a hub of tech activity (CMU anybody, Google? hello!) so it makes sense that companies should start moving there a little at a time.

Taken of Achievement in City Paper

Level Up! Show

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:43:11 +0000

Sun Microsystems brings us Level Up, a show about entertainment and video game culture. Thought I’d link to one of the episodes. To view the other eps visit their page: Level up! with Channel Sun

Hyper Ninja’s Photoshop Tips

admin — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:24:51 +0000

Hyper Ninja’s 10 Photoshop Hotkeys
What can I say, I’m partial to a good and quick to ref page for days when I’m pulling a “duh” on what hotkey does what. Check him out; he’s got a lot of good posts!

101 Photoshop Tips in 5 min

admin — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:51:27 +0000

Deke is the web’s photoshop genius. Anybody who uses Photoshop or who just loves crazy amounts of tips mixed with humor and music, then check out his video! It’s a fun watch even if you’re not a Photoshop fiend.