An Illustrator's Project: From Start to Finish

Happy Halloween! On this All Hallow's Eve, check out this intricate look into how an illustrator creates their work conceptually and digitally, producing a beautiful image with tons of details to look at.

Design Instruct : http://designinstruct.com/drawing-illustration/an-illustrators-project-from-start-to-finish/

Create A Grid Based Resume Layout in InDesign

When showing off resumes to potential employers, a lot of people don't know how to make their own, so they resort to templates and online tools to help them be sure to put the correct information and format it properly. This leads to a lot of resumes looking bland and worn out.

As graphic designers, our resumes could be benefited from some creativity and some flavor, something this grid-based layout could help do. You can also adjust this to your needs and even make it stand out even more. All it takes is some design.

Spoongraphics: http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-grid-based-resume-layout-in-indesign

 

Motivation Monday #002- Skeletons, Ghosts, Zombies, OH MY!

Motivation Monday reaches its second week, and with it some more motivation! 

This Wednesday is Halloween, and with it, comes a lot of spooky imagery.
Here are some images to help inspire you to make something great, whether it be an full-fledged illustration, a slick design, or a basic sketch that helps you somewhere down the line.

http://painhatred.deviantart.com/art/Till-Death-Do-We-Part-271225620

Add Light Streaks to a Photo with Photoshop

This tutorial comes from Photoshop Essentials.com, and it shows us how to create vivid light streaks that dance around your photo or graphic. 




A lot of commercials and print ads use variations of this a lot to demonstrate that an item is graceful and airy(ex: Revlon Makeup Advertisement) and on the other hand, it can be used to show that an item is edgy and mature(5 Gum Advertisement). 

Some practice with this would give some great looking portfolio work, especially if you pushed the limits of the idea further. 

Photoshop Essentials.com : http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/light-streaks/

Create a Character from a Sketch

Vectips.com shows a really great and easy way to create a character from a sketch. This has a lot of applications and can be extended to landscapes, logos, or larger print designs. Definitely something you should check out if you want to get better with Illustrator.

Vectips.com : http://vectips.com/tutorials/create-a-cute-creature-character-from-a-sketch/

How to Create a Landscape Wallpaper for Your Desktop

Vectortuts has a great tutorial on how to create a wallpaper for your desktop. There are a lot of ways that you could add your own spin of originality or creativity to this, which makes it a really helpful tutorial. 

This can also be great for learning Illustrator and gives a lot of good practice for mapping out a scene. Check out the link and the finished product below.

Link : http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/illustration/how-to-create-a-landscape-wallpaper-for-your-desktop/

Motivation Monday #001- Fall Season

The season of fall has a lot of items associated with it. Pumpkins, leaves, and a general feel of slowing down and relaxation. Here are some designs that throw around muted colors and organic shapes to create an autumn aesthetic.

Wedding Invitation - Design With Chon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/designwithchon/6128030086/

Swirl Mania in Illustrator & Photoshop

This tutorial comes from a really great site, Abduzeedo.com. If you have the time you should definitely check it out more, but for now here's a tutorial that shows how to incorporate swirls in your designs using Illustrator and Photoshop. The end product is definitely inspiring to use in your own work. The link to the website is below.

http://abduzeedo.com/swirl-mania-illustrator-photoshop

DesignFusion at MSSU

Hello world! 

DesignFusion is a website based out of Joplin, Missouri put into service by students at Missouri Southern State University. 

This website will be providing interviews, tutorials, and inspiration gathered from around the internet and put into one convenient package for students and designers everywhere.

This site also plans to have opportunities for several exhibitions of student work to showcase budding designers at Missouri Southern and give them a chance to have their work published on the internet. 

All in all, the goal of the website is to unite(read: fuse) the separated students and Graphic Design department at Southern, allowing them to grow their skills and help them to become better designers together. Through your help, we hope that this goal is seen and leads to some great accomplishments and awesome designers.

Thanks for reading, and here's to the future!

Kahlief Steele

DesignFusion at MSSU