Portfolio Site 2010

New portfolio site has been loaded up for the year 2010. You can access some of my latest work now. You just have to click on the PORTFOLIO link above if you are interested. I know post counts have been seldom the past month and a half, but I have been busy with lots of things unrelated to this site. But I already have loads of tutorial contents prepared as well as some new wallpapers in the works. Hopefully this year will not be crazy and will allow me to do wallpapers as much as last year.

Posted in art + design, site news 1 Comment »

The focus of being a creative artist is mainly the creative process and it’s goal; the finished product. There are however alot of factors outside the creative process that affect you. It can be small things like never being satisfied with the thing you create or everyone’s worst nightmare – a full on creative block. As a creative artist you will know; the battle are often fought outside the actual creating. In this post, or rant rather, I will comment and share my thoughts about some of these.

Self-confidence or rather the lack there of. This is a tough one and the one I find hardest to write about, but I’ll try my best. Sometimes you have a great idea, but when you do get creative it doesn’t always turn out the way you wanted it. And this can happen because of lot of things. Maybe there’s a skillset you don’t have but need, maybe others don’t seem to fond of the idea, maybe you actually made it but it doesn’t make people respond the way you’d wanted. We could keep going, couldn’t we?

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Posted in art + design, photography, psychology, rants 1 Comment »

There was an interesting discovery by scientists Minneapolis VA Medical Center, where they have discovered that brain activity monitoring through scans can actually physically see PTSD in a visual form.This is quite interesting because it always adds argument to the famous Nurture versus Nature theory in Psychology. It would be quite interesting to see if brain activity gets altered for artists and designers when they are at its most creative peak. I also want to know why certain individuals are highly motivated during the evening than they are during the day. I really wished I had the highest motivations during the day at a studio, cause it really is not quite the same during the day than is during the evening when I am working on freelance work.

Check out the article.

Posted in art + design, psychology, world news No Comments »

Heavily inspired by the luxury look of Las Vegas, I have put up a unique tutorial on how to achieve a gold text effect that looks luxurious. This tutorial covers layer effects, using gradients on text and stroke effects and how to create a sparkle effect with the use of brushes. Read Tutorial…

Posted in Photoshop, art + design, tutorials 2 Comments »

Dealing with clients as a freelance designer or a side project for yourself is a very important task that will make a difference between you getting that contract or not. There is no middle ground for it. The first few initial contact with clients and the conversations you have is the most important time of your career as a designer.

1. First contact (e-mail, phone, or in person)

You know that phrase “1st impression is everything?” Well it’s true. Whether you don’t hold true to that belief or not, or whether you are the nice guy/gal that don’t judge people on 1st impression, most human psychology is hard wired to judge and feel the new person they meet the very 1st time. If you do not believe this, you are in absolute denial. This is just the nature of who we are as human beings. With that said, it is very important to reflect professionalism to the fullest the 1st time you get in touch with a client. First off, the most important thing is to greet them with a nice hello. If your contact is over the phone, make sure you are in an environment that is quiet, where you sit and talk by yourself. Do not have music playing in the background, do not have people chatting in the back. If you do happen to pick up your phone in a noisy area, tell them that it is not a good time to talk and you will call them back as soon as possible. DO NOT try to listen to what they say over a noisy environment. If the first contact is over e-mail, be polite and professional over text. ALWAYS use spell check before sending out an e-mail and ALWAYS make sure that your grammar and sentence structure is correct. Read your e-mail response over to make sure of this. If the contact is in person, make sure you greet them with a hand shake. Make sure your hands are free to do this. Make eye contact, hand shake, smile, and start your conversation in a professional manner.

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Posted in art + design, designers resource, psychology No Comments »