Category Archives: Design Tools & Utilities

What to Expect with a Wacom Cintiq Drawing Tablet (and How to Set up Your Cintiq)

January 7, 2009 – 4:12 pm

A very positive review of the Wacom Cintiq Digital Graphics Tablet and a tutorial on how to set up your Wacom Cintiq.

By admin Also posted in Design Hardware, Drawing and Sketching 38 Comments

Which Graphics Tablet or Digital Graphics Pen Display Should Graphic Designers Buy

December 22, 2008 – 3:20 pm

As a graphic designer, you probably have tried digital graphic tablets before. Heck, you might even own one or two already. But do you realize how far digital graphics tablets have come in the last few years?

By admin Also posted in Adobe Photoshop, Design Hardware, Design Project Management, Drawing and Sketching, Graphic Design, Lists 21 Comments

27 Adobe Photoshop Cheat Sheets and Quick Reference Cards for Adobe Photoshop CS4, CS3, CS2 and Below

November 26, 2008 – 12:29 am

I would be hard pressed to find a web designer or graphic designer who doesn't like a helpful Photoshop Quick Reference Card or Cheat Sheet. Cheat Sheets can help you save so much time and can really help you learn about Adobe Photoshop in an easy to understand format. I have gathered a list of Adobe Photoshop cheat sheets that I have found to be the most helpful.

By admin Also posted in Adobe Photoshop, Free Design Stuff, Graphic Design Resources, Lists 12 Comments

GIMP Resources Part 2 - Ultimate List of GIMP Sites, Plugins, Tutorials Oh My!

October 22, 2008 – 9:46 pm

This is Part 2 of our GIMP Resources Articles. We have put together a huge list of online GIMP resource sites such as GIMP Tutorial Directories, GIMP Brushes, GIMP Color Palettes, GIMP Gradients, GIMP Patterns & Textures, GIMP Podcasts & Blogs, GIMP Communities, GIMP Forums, GIMP Art Galleries, and GIMP Plugins & Scripts.

By admin Also posted in Design Software, Free Design Stuff, GIMP, Lists 3 Comments

Web Based Image Editors - Online Photoshop Alternatives for Image Editing

October 6, 2008 – 1:21 pm

With Adobe recently launching their online version of Adobe Photoshop - Adobe Photoshop Express - you might be wondering if there are other quality image editors online. You don't have to wonder anymore. We have put together a list of more than 30 web-based picture editors that are great alternatives to Photoshop Express. I am not saying that any of these online image editing tools are better than Photoshop Express, but they are all quality tools that can be used to create great image effects.

By admin Also posted in Adobe Photoshop, Lists, Photos & Clip Art 6 Comments

Freelance Graphic Design Jobs and Web Design Jobs - We’re Rolling in Them

September 30, 2008 – 2:54 pm

We have set up a script to take the freelance design jobs from dozens of freelance sites, graphic design forums, web design forums, job boards, and graphic design job sites. This script is set to automatically update this job board several times a day so you can be assured that you are looking at regularly updated freelance graphic design and web design projects on this aggregator.

By admin Also posted in Design Careers, Design News, Free Design Stuff 6 Comments

Fonts FAQ - Answers To Your Questions About Fonts

September 25, 2008 – 8:41 pm

I get questions about fonts all the time and I wanted to write a post that would help many of you. Today I am answering many questions about fonts that will help you in your daily graphic design tasks.

By admin Also posted in Fonts 4 Comments

Productivity Tools for Efficient Graphic Designers to Automate Design Process

September 20, 2008 – 2:41 pm

You will find that a lot of these tools can automate your graphic design process by actually doing the tedious repetitive tasks that slow you down. There are a ton of tools listed here, so make sure to bookmark this page.

By admin Also posted in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Colors and Design, Design Project Management, Lists, Plugins and Filters, QuarkXpress 3 Comments

Free Online Font Tools - Mega List of Web Based Font, Text, & Type Tools

June 18, 2008 – 2:06 pm

Graphic Design and Typography are deeply connected. For that reason, I figure that most of you are going to love these free online font and type tools. Most, if not all, of these are very useful and I recommend that you use them when you have a chance. Below you will find the huge list of free browser-based font and type tools.

By admin Also posted in Fonts, Free Design Stuff, Lists 5 Comments

List of Vector Conversion Software - 30+ Tools to Turn Photos into Line Art and Illustrations

June 7, 2008 – 10:12 pm

I love Vector Magic, a free online vectorization tool. It is a really cool browser-based tool that can be used to turn a photograph into an illustration. It doesn't always succeed in getting that look that you might be looking for, but it does a pretty good job. I usually just use it to play around with photos to see what Vector Magic can do with it, but it also can be very useful if you want to convert a photo into an illustration. I started to wonder how many other vectorization tools and software packages there were out there and I was surprised to find out that there are a ton o them. Basically, most of these tools turn Raster / Bitmap / Photo Images into Line Art / Illustrations / Vector Art.

By admin Also posted in Adobe Illustrator, Design Software, Drawing and Sketching, Graphic Design Resources, Lists, Photos & Clip Art, Photos & Clip Art 11 Comments