Take the Sketchbook Pledge!

There's a really good drawing and illustration book I have entitled "Experimental Drawing, 30th Anniversary Edition: Creative Exercises Illustrated by Old and New Masters" by Robert Kaupelis.

It's filled with great and unusual drawing and illustration exercises. However, just because it has examples from a traditional drawing perspective, don't underestimate the value of these drawing and sketching exercises in your design classes.

So, with that in mind, I'm posting this pledge that can be found in the introduction to this book:

"I solemnly swear that from this day forward, I shall never again be caught without a sketchbook during my waking hours and also that I shall use it faithfully every day."

I am a big believer that drawing and sketching something - anything - every day will help you become a better artist and designer. Trust me on this one. :)

Free textures and backgrounds at this link

http://www.plaintextures.com/index.php

This is a really nice collection of 3D textures and backgrounds for web design or other projects. The most important word here? Free!

More advertising goodness

Check out and study the ads at these blogs: http://advertisingadvice.blogspot.com/2008/05/72-most-creative-advertisements.html

http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/30-funny-print-ads-thatll-make-you-laugh

and the always cutting-edge: http://adsoftheworld.com/

All the classic ads you've ever wanted to see!

http://www.adclassix.com/

At this link you will find dozens of historic advertisements in every category. Take some time and browse through them — the design concepts are classic and are as relevant today as they were then.

A brief history of graphic design

Here's a link to a brief history of graphic design.

http://www.designhistory.org/

Superbowl Volkswagen ad

FOX showed only an abbreviated version of this ad. Here's the complete version. This is a good example of what you want your ads to achieve - catching the viewer's attention with a combination of humor and emotion within an ordinary situation of a child pretending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R55e-uHQna0

Google Art Project!

Check out this link from Google. It uses the "Street View" technology to peer inside 17 of the world's most renowned museums and view more than 1,000 works of art online in extraordinary detail.

Absolutely amazing!

http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/moma/the-starry-night

What you can do with Illustrator's pen tool

Here's an amazing tutorial about drawing vector illustrations with Adobe Illustrator:
http://www.gomediazine.com/tutorials/from-sketch-to-vector-illustration/

And here's an illustrator from Brazil who has some incredible vector illustrations to study:
http://www.crisvector.com/

This is one great result of mastering Illustrator's pen tool. :)

Ad layout examples

Hello, everyone and welcome to Advertising Design 105! Your first assignment is one I had when I was a student here - we called them ad cards. We had to find examples of the concepts I have listed in your assignment sheet and draw three of each. I am posting for your reference some vintage and current examples from around the web for you to study so you can come up with your own. As you study them, you will no doubt see that some ads can apply to more than one concept.

Unity

Rhythm

Symmetrical and asymmetrical balance

Designing on an axis

Eye motion and direction

Story building

Space division

Typographic

Cartoonized!

http://cartoonized.net/tutorial-turning-photograph-into-cartoon-part1.php

Here's a cool tutorial that will show you how to turn a photograph into a cartoon-like picture. I used it on my Facebook profile photo.

Designing with type solutions

For your reference, I've scanned a couple pages from the book "Visual Literacy," by Judith and Richard Wilde. These examples show what the students at the School of Visual Arts came up with as solutions to the problems of scale, negative/positive, patterns and so on, using only type.

Look at these examples for reference and to study, but don't imitate them.

Projects from The Cooper Union

These projects were compiled by James Craig, author of "Designing With Type" and his class at the Cooper Union in New York City. Very interesting stuff - take a look.

http://designingwithtype.com/cooperunion.html

P.S. It's also in the list to the left.

Still more typographic posters

I'm seeing a trend here.

http://blog.largeformatposters.com/smart-design/30-fresh-typography-poster-design-examples/

More typographic posters

http://webitect.net/design/60-amazing-examples-of-typography-posters/

Breathtaking typographic posters

Some inspiration for you from Smashing Magazine

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/02/25/breathtaking-typographic-posters/

Free textures and other goodies

Here's an interesting site if you're looking for textures for backgrounds for your projects. Oh, and it's free.

http://www.bittbox.com/freebies/24-free-high-res-textures

Vintage Album Covers!

 A very sweet collection of vintage album covers can be found at this link. These examples are proof of using very simple elements to create compelling designs. Check it out!

http://www.projectthirtythree.com/

Origami Tessellations and Corrugations

Two links to two of Flickr's most amazing groups. Forget everything you think you know about origami and look at these examples.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/origamitessellations/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/corrugation/

Pittsburgh needs a logo!

This is too cool! Check out all the fantastic artwork on this site and see if you can design something yourself.

http://www.citid.net/

P. S. There is more than one logo for some cities.

Make your own color combos!

 http://kuler.adobe.com

This is a link to Adobe's online color picker utility. You can design your own custom color palette as well as exploring the ones that have been uploaded. If you register (it's free), you can save the color combos you have created for future use.