Resources for Students
This is a really beautiful set of illustrative website designs. Each one has its own unique flavour. Keep an eye out for creative solutions to old problems, such as the off-balance interactive search box above.
I recommend reviewing the three links at the end of the list for more website design inspiration.
25 Incredibly Artistic Websites –> [via Just Creative Designs]
This has been posted several times all over the web this week, but I really needed to bring your attention to it here.
When the screenwriter Leonard Schrader passed away in 2006, a friend discovered his astonishing collection of lobby cards—the gorgeous promotional posters that were a common sight in movie theaters from the early 20th century through the 1960s. These unearthed gems illuminate the golden age of film.
Vanity Fair has a pretty good story about the discovery and the cards themselves. There are 8,462 of the lobby cards, and they’ve all been digitized by the finder, David Weisman and are viewable through a slideshow at a site he created just for the cards. They’re fascinating look into designs past and I highly recommend sitting back and letting the slideshow go by. I actually don’t know how long it plays for, but it’s been running for at least five minutes here and I haven’t seen a loop yet.
The Leonard Schrader Collection of Lobby Cards –> [via kottke]
Awarding cash, electronics, software and scholarships, students are given multiple opportunities to win monthly with a grand prize at the end of the competition. Studica Skills is a set of international design contests in 3d animation, character modeling, graphic design, page layout, web design, digital sketching, photography, and dozens more digital media categories.
Created to challenge students both technically and creatively, Studica Skills is designed as an addendum to classroom learning. Awarding cash, electronics, software and scholarships, students are given multiple opportunities to win monthly with a grand prize at the end of the competition.
The competitions can get pretty heated and are a great way to stretch your creative muscles. There are competitions in design categories as well as competitions to test your knowledge of specific software such as Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk 3ds Max, Adobe Illustrator or InDesign.
CD-ED’s Digital Arts Technology Training Institute is working to incorporate the Studica Skills competition into its curriculum to allow students a chance to compare their skill levels and creativity with that of students across North America, as well as with their own local classmates.
It is open to all students, and even if you don’t win you can post your work and have it seen on the largest social networking site on the Internet.
We encourage our best & brightest to submit (that means you!)
* All Competitions are Free to Enter
* Enter as many Competitions as you wish
Studica Skills Competitions at Facebook –>
Studica Skills Competitions online –>
I probably can’t express properly my adoration of the artwork furiae.com. The site navigation needs some work (the confined box is way too small!) but Linda Bergkvist, the genius behind it all, hasn’t posted or updated since January 2007, so I suppose she can be forgiven!
The whole site is gem after gem of brilliant digital painting and artistry, but what I really want to point your attention to is the tutorials. It’s not obvious right off that she has them, but if you choose Gallery, you’ll then get an option for Tutorials. Then you can choose from a nose tutorial, thoughts on skintones, a lip tutorial, painting an eye, textured brushes, painting hair, & smooth blending. Every now and again I go back to these pages as a refresher, and I’m always inspired to paint something new.
This is absolutely perfect for my graphic design, 3d and gaming students. It’s an online portfolio site specifically for artists without web skills. It’s sleek and clean, and I’ve had one or two students submit their portfolios by sending me the URL (which is how I found it). I’ll be suggesting it as part of your final portfolio project!
(Plus, it’s pretty and a good example of webdesign.)
Amazing (and prolific) series of concept art for Warhammer Online. Characters, weapons, maps & locations are shown in different phases, from concept through to cinema renders (top image).
This is a find by Evan and I pounced on it to show you. It looks like it might be as useful as Muybridge’s freeze-frame photos in terms of reference. The fact that the 3d models are shown without skin is something you should exploit in order to learn muscle definition and placement. This could be a huge boost in learning anatomy for concept art, texturing, modeling and animation.
CGSociety has announced the winners of their latest challenge, “Strange Behavior”:
‘Strange Behavior’ – “The unexpected can delight or shock. It can be exciting or frightening. It’s often funny. It’s never boring!”
Pages of beautiful entries, including Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, Visual Effects, Art Direction, Cinematography, Matte Painting, Compositing & Editing and Screen Play adaption.
Make extra effort to watch the animated winning entries. I’m having trouble deciding between the black-and-white stripes of Polkarella, and the beautiful purples of Spaced Out as my favourite. Also make sure to click on the Challenger Page for each of the winners, because you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look backwards through the process of creating each scene.
It’s a LOT of eye-candy, folks, don’t overload yourself but make sure you take it all in eventually!
NotCot.org has put together a great collection of images from illustrator Koren Shadmi. His official site is here, but as noted at NotCot, his LiveJournal, packed full of the process it takes to get a finished piece together, is much more interesting to me – but we all know I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for in-progress pics!
I think everybody’s a fan of Veerle, one of the web’s most honoured illustrators and designers. Her blog is simply gorgeous, and her design aesthetic is matched by her technical skills. But what makes this worth keeping in your favourites list is the wealth of tutorials buried in the archives. Browse by category or date to find a lot of great tips and tricks for design, Illustrator, Photoshop, and so much more.
I’ve found an excellent 8-part tutorial that shows, step-by-step, how to create a website based on CSS and the very content/sidebar/footer/header ID tags I’ve been teaching y’all. Go through and practice by following along, and then try to create your own design using the same techniques.