By Guru: Tom

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Below are the latest articles from Tom. The results are culled from all sources Workflow: Photoshop follows.

• Design a Space Inspired Iphone Advert

  • Friday, 22 Jan 2010, 12:04 PST (22 January 2010)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Final Image
  As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:

  If you want access to the downloadable .PSD file for this, and every other tutorial at PSDFAN, then join our members area for just $4.95 per month.
  Step 1
  Create a new document (600X700px).
  Create a new layer called ’stars’ and fill your entire canvas with black:

  Step 2
  Now go to filter>noise>add noise, and add 10% amount.

  Step 3
  Go to image>adjustments>brightness/contrast and reduce your brightness to -40 and increase your contrast to +50. This should leave you with a stars background effect.

  Step 4
  Using a large, soft paintbrush draw out a cross, consisting of four lines. Each line should be a different very bright color:

  Step 5
  Go to filter>blur>motion blur. Apply a motion blur strength: 600, angle: 25 degrees.

  Then change this layer’s blend mode to ‘hard light’ and reduce it’s opacity to…

• Win One of 4 VIP Accounts from Grafpedia

  • Thursday, 21 Jan 2010, 12:31 PST (21 January 2010)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Grafpedia
  Grafpedia is currently one of my favorite design blogs, frequently posting top-notch tutorials and design-related content.
  Better yet, they provide one of the best member areas out there providing:

  The Prizes
  All winners of this giveaway receive access to the Grafpedia VIP area, which includes: PSD files for tutorials, layer styles, gradients, vector files/icons, stock images/textures and thousands of brushes.
  FIRST PRIZE:
  1 VIP account for one year with commercial license ( $199 value )
  THE OTHER 3 PRIZES
  3 VIP accounts for one month each ( 9.95 $ each )
  How to Enter
  To enter simply you have to either:
  Follow Grafpedia on Twitter
  or…
  Fan Grafpedia on Facebook.
  Then leave a comment to this post with your Twitter id or Facebook profile.
  *THIS CONTEST WILL END JANUARY 28TH – ALL ENTRIES UP TO THAT POINT WILL BE COUNTED*

• Tricks of the Trade: Great Portfolio Design (Part 1)

  • Wednesday, 20 Jan 2010, 15:45 PST (20 January 2010)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Related Posts
  Before we get started, here are some related posts for you to check out:
  20 Super Creative Website Menus
  15 Awesome About Page Designs
  15 Examples of Well Designed Contact Pages
  20 Fresh and New Blue Web Designs
  15 Fresh Online Magazine Designs
  Tricks of the Trade: Great Portfolio Design
  This week we bring you a look at the various techniques used by designers in building a respectable and creative portfolio. In Part 1 (of 2) we take a look at the use of Big, Informative Headlines and Illustrations.
  Check back soon for Part 2!
  Big, Informative Headlines
  Many designers choose to display a large textual heading on their portfolio’s homepage. This headline often introduces the individual (if it’s a freelancer) or company, as well as summing up what they provide. Additionally many designers display a quirky or creative message in order to set themselves apart from the…

• 50 Examples of Natural Macro Photography

  • Tuesday, 19 Jan 2010, 14:12 PST (19 January 2010)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Related Posts
  Before we get started, here are some related posts:
  30 Beautiful Examples of Surreal Photography
  25 Inspiring Examples of Music Photography
  50 Beautiful Polaroid Shots
  40 Extraordinary Cityscapes
  Introduction
  Macro photography is close-up photography. Macro photography means that the image on film is approximately the same size as the subject. Many 35mm macro lenses achieve a 1:2 or 1:1 ratio – whereby the subject is either half the size of the object being photographed or the exact same size.
  It’s important to limit your depth of field in macro photography, as small changes to your depth of field will cause your image to blur. Additionally, lighting can be made difficult, as a normal-focal-length 35mm lens will require a distance of approx 50mm between lens and subject. This means that there is literally not enough space in which to place a light between your subject and lens. Many photographers…

• Design a Sleek Textured Blue Portfolio

  • Monday, 18 Jan 2010, 12:25 PST (18 January 2010)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Final Image
  As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:

  If you want access to the downloadable .PSD file for this, and every other tutorial at PSDFAN, then join our members area for just $4.95 per month.
  Step 1
  Create a new document (1080X1200px).
  We’re going to use guides in order to set out our layout. In order to set a guide, go to view>new guide and then specify either horizontal or vertical, as well as a distance for your guide. The default guide setting is in cm, but you can simply type in px.
  To start with we’re going to set out our main content area’s width, and so set vertical guides at 90px and 990px. This will mean that we have a 900px wide content area, which is 90px away from each side of your canvas.

  Step 2
  Now we’re going to lay out the…

• PSDFAN Exclusive: 8 National Flag Icon Sets

  • Sunday, 17 Jan 2010, 04:24 PST (17 January 2010)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  8 Flag Icon Sets!
  After looking over PSDFAN’s traffic stats recently, I began thinking about an idea for a new icon set. I know that many bloggers are keen to promote their national identities, and this is particularly true during national holidays and other such occasions.
  I’m happy to release 8 national flag icon sets, each including 8 social bookmarking icons. Each icon has been created with a 3d effect and a nationals flag attached to the icon. The 8 flags chosen depict the 8 countries who visit PSDFAN the most each month.
  These include (in no particular order):
  USA
  UK
  Japan
  Germany
  France
  Spain
  Brazil
  India

  Download Icons:
  You can download these free icon sets using the link below:
  DOWNLOAD PSDFAN EXCLUSIVE 8 NATIONAL FLAGS ICON SETS
  We’d Like to Thank…
  These icons are released in collaboration with the following websites. Please be sure to check them out if…

• Happy New Years – Most Popular Posts of 2009

  • Thursday, 31 Dec 2009, 09:19 PST (31 December 2009)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Happy New Years!
  Happy New Year to all PSDFAN readers. On behalf of myself and all of the PSDFAN team I would like to thank you all for your tremendous support during 2009. It’s been a fantastic year, seeing our once fledgling community thrive into a fantastic centre of design discussion. None of PSDFAN’s progress would be possible without your ongoing support, so thankyou!
  Best of all, we have some HUGE things planned for 2010! I will personally have a lot more time to devote to the site, and so things will be shaken up in a big way in the coming months. Here’s some of the things that you can look forward to:

  - We will be completely relaunching our members area, which will be packed full of exciting new features and great content. Hopefully this relaunch should be happening around the end of January/start of February.
  - We’ll…

• 20+ Intriguing Works of Digital Art

  • Monday, 28 Dec 2009, 02:08 PST (28 December 2009)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Digital Art Inspiration
  As we near a new year of creativity, it’s important to maintain our inspiration. Towards that end, I’ve compiled a list of 20+ super inspiring pieces of digital art. Each of these works is very unique, and intriguing, so should hopefully inspire you in your upcoming designs. Enjoy, and I hope that you all had a fantastic Christmas!
  You May Also Be Interested In These Articles
  Unbelievable Examples of Battle Digital Art
  20 Wonderfully Detailed Photo Manipulations
  35 Hugely Inspiring Works of Digital Art

  20+ Inspiring Works
  Floating Forest

  Origin

  Float Mind

  Some Things

  Slick Corea Collab

  Dancing

  A Certain Space

  The Island

  Got Air

  Insomnia

  Glance of Fluid Dreams

  Bloom

  Take the Red Pill…

  The Seaside

  Sci-Fi

  End of the World

  Wonderland Deep Minds

  Centred

  Dee Space

  Big Bang Typography

  Fugitive Soul

  Can’t Get Enough of This

• Massive Christmas Sack Full of Freebies!

  • Friday, 25 Dec 2009, 03:23 PST (25 December 2009)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Merry Christmas Everyone!
  Merry Christmas from everyone here at PSDFAN! I hope that all of you have a fantastic day and get lots of great presents.
  Personally I’ll be spending the day eating and drinking far too much, and catching up with family. Whatever you’re up to though I hope it’s festive!

  To help spread a little more Christmas cheer I’ve compiled a ‘Christmas sack’ of goodies for you to enjoy this holiday. The sack includes a hand picked selection of the best Christmas icons, Wordpress themes and Photoshop brushes. There are a lot of sub-standard Christmas freebies out there, but each of these have been thoroughly checked and reviewed for their quality and usefulness. Enjoy!
  Free Christmas Icon Sets
  Free Smashing Christmas Icon Set

  Free Smashing Christmas Icon Set

  Dellixmas Christmas Icon Set

  Dock the Halls Icon Set

  PSDFAN Exclusive Christmas Icon Set

  Free Christmas Icons from Clever Icons…

• 20 Fantastically Festive Christmas Photoshop Tutorials

  • Tuesday, 22 Dec 2009, 05:28 PST (22 December 2009)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Christmas Photoshop Tutorials
  Christmas is a great time for designers to explore new techniques and come up with some festive compositions. I’ve hand selected 20 great tutorials to help you push your creative talents this season. Learn how to create Christmas designs, including wallpapers, christmas cards, icons and more!

  (All images link to the original tutorial.)
  Design an Awesome Tree in Photoshop

  Draw a Header for a Christmas Greetings Template

  Create a Beautiful Christmas Card

  Make a Nice and Creative Christmas Card Using Photoshop

  Creating a Contemporary Christmas Wallpaper

  Make a Sketchy Wallpaper for this Christmas

  Design a Simple Illustration for Christmas

  How to Create a Christmas Card in Photoshop

  How to Create and Decorate a Christmas Tree in Photoshop

  Creating a Multinational Christmas Wallpaper

  Christmas Balls Tutorials

  Design Christmas Card with Tree Balls

  We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Wallpaper Tutorial)

  Christmas Glass Balls Drawing Lesson

  Drawing Unique Christmas…

• QualityXhtml Subscription Contest (Winners)

  • Sunday, 13 Dec 2009, 14:18 PST (13 December 2009)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Quality XHTML Giveaway Winners
  Thanks to everyone who entered our recent QualityXhtml subscription contest. Congratulations to the following 5 winners, the QualityXhtml staff will be in touch with your prize details!
  Thomas Offinga
  Gordon
  Julia Altermann
  Kevin
  David G. Barnett

• 5 Weird and Inspiring Origami Projects

  • Wednesday, 9 Dec 2009, 12:38 PST (9 December 2009)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Strange, but Beautiful…
  The projects featured in this post all do something quite different from what we’ve come to normally expect of origami artwork. Some works subvert our expectations, whilst others simply shock us with their unconventional compositions and structure. However, all of the works within these 5 projects are extremely beautiful, and I hope that they inspire you today!

  If you like these origami sculptures you make appreciate a couple of other sculpture posts that we’ve done before:
  35 Astonishingly Intricate Ice Sculptures
  30 Superb Lego Sculptures
  Esquire Origami Project
  From what I can learn, this project is highly unique. The giant origami sculptures appear to have actually been placed within natural settings and then photographed. Both the origami and photography skills displayed are awe-inspiring, and the result is a truly unique, visual collection.

  Cocettes
  This project uses fairly simple origami, but in a very striking away. The bold…

• 30 Stunningly Beautiful Wallpapers

  • Monday, 7 Dec 2009, 10:53 PST (7 December 2009)
  • By: Tom, PSDFan
  

  Wallpapers With a Difference
  I’ve done a few wallpaper roundups here before, each of which has captures some great designs. You can view some of these below:
  20 Totally Awesome Abstract Wallpapers
  30 Magnificent High Def Space Wallpapers
  35 High Def Wallpapers to Calm and Inspire You
  However, today I bring you, what are in my opinion the most stunning wallpapers I’ve ever come across. Each of these designs just gives me a passion to design, and so I’m sure they will make a great addition to your desktop.

  (You can download each full-sized wallpaper by clicking on each design and following download instructions).
  System Kings – In the Forest Where You Sleep
  Systemkings is a joint venture between Marius Bauer and Jared K. Nickerson. On route to explore a style of collaborative effort, this unique release is the outcome of a journey. It includes twenty different wallpapers in both…

 
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