Best Of The Web September For Web/Graphic Design

October 1st, 2009
News

Another a great month in the design community all captured into one article via Creative Nerds featuring the best Photoshop & illustrator tutorials web design articles, blogging articles and the best icon freebies of the month.

Illustrator Tutorials

How to Create a Golden, Vector Compass in Illustrator

In this tutorial It will take you through the steps and techniques of creating a golden compass. For this tutorial I’ve used just Adobe Illustrator and a heavy dose of ingenuity.

Create a Vintage TV Set Icon in Illustrator

I have been living without a TV set for exactly three years and 8 months now. It’s great and I don’t miss a thing. Don’t get me wrong. I loved every awful program, every commercial, every useless newscast, but it was time for me to get on with my life. Like many other people, though, I love vintage appliances and cherish the memories associated with the old TV set we had when I was a kid. To celebrate that I decided to create a fun little icon in Adobe Illustrator.

Create An Awesome Space Rocket Avatar in Illustrator

What? You still don’t have your own avatar? Remedy this situation immediately with this tutorial. We’ll draw a shiny, awesome-looking space rocket in Adobe Illustrator using advanced techniques such as gradient meshes, pattern brushes and opacity masks. We will then add a flare, smoke, clouds and sky to complete a fun illustration. Ready to launch?

How to Design a Skate Deck with a Cool Skull Pattern

Illustrator’s built in Symbol Sprayer can be a highly useful tool for quickly creating awesome pattern graphics. Let’s look at creating a few vector skull graphics, then combine them into an intricate pattern design to customise a skateboard deck.

Photoshop Tutorials

Create a Stunning Text on Wild Fire Effect

Fire text is one of the most classic technique that you can see in Photoshop tutorials. I am trying out another version here using some real fire images, mix with filters and blending methods.

Create an Amazingly 3D Colorful Text Effect in Photoshop

This is the first part of a two part series. Part two will be released tomorrow. In this piece you will learn how to bring a simple text to life and place everything in fantastic, colored and glowing 3D space. Some neat techniques covered here will allow you to bring your art to the next level.

Create Simple Cartoon Characters in Photoshop

The use of colourful vector art is a great way to create an accessible and friendly webpage. When done well it is possible to create a rich and vibrant art style which will capture the imagination. We walk you through the basics to get you going on Photoshop CS and newer.

Create Fantastic Stone Textures in Photoshop

In this tutorial, I will show you a quick and easy way to make a realistic stone texture with the help of the Liquify Filter. This tutorial is written for users who have a basic understanding of the tools and techniques commonly used in Photoshop.

Web Design

20 free WordPress themes with premium-like functionalities

WordPress is all over the place nowadays, with an endless number of free themes published every day by web designers. Some even took it a step further and published some premium WordPress themes that you can buy on their websites or marketplaces. What we have for you is even better, a great collection of free WordPress themes with functionalities just as good as the ones premium themes have.

30 CSS Best Practices for Beginners

25 Incredibly Useful CSS Tricks You Should Know

22 Awesome Adobe AIR Applications for Designers

Adobe AIR has become a popular platform for internet-enabled desktop applications. If you’re a designer, AIR applications will help you with a multitude of tasks that will make your life easier, aiding you in streamlining your workflow.

30 Bad Practices Of Web Designers

Slide-Out Feedback Button for the Side of a Webpage

Feedback Button Tutorial (Revised) from TheWebSqueeze on Vimeo.

Must See SEO Guide for All WordPress Bloggers

One of the most important part of setting up a blog is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO for a WordPress blog is different than SEO for static websites, mainly because of the social nature of blogging technology. It is less about buying links or tricking inadequate search technology.