Daniel Crosier, Illustrator/Comic Book Artist, Thoth Engine Productions joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable to explain his background, work, and some tips about how he created a popular wood burned comic book series “Bartholomew of the Scissors“. This unique illustrative style and technique has opened doors to many collaborative opportunities for Daniel and his work combines his original creative visions and topic ideas based on direction from art directors and comic writers.

Daniel describes his approach to this technique which involve starting with a basic piece of pine wood and simple pencil outlines. He started his first project with a basic $20 woodburning tool kit but soon found he preferred to use a basic pen tip, replicating traditional mediums, rather than use a series of specialized burning tip shapes. He explains basic trial and error have allowed him to explore various effects and often builds upon the natural grains and imperfections of the wood piece to expand the final illustration.

Once the designs and art pieces are burned onto the wood, Daniel then scans the pieces at 300dpi for finishing and layout for print. Daniel has many other projects and pieces in the works but much of his woodburning techniques lends itself well to a dark, horror inspired creative theme perfect for the underground world of comics.

To see more of Daniel’s work, visit his site at: http://www.thothengine.net or find him on Deviant Art at: http://danielcrosier.deviantart.com/. You can also connect to Daniel on MySpace or Facebook.
Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay starts the year with a preview of the exciting design oriented conferences and events for 2009. Highlights include Macworld, Graphics of the Americas, Web Directions North & South, Photoshop World Conference and workshop events, Print Oasis, and many others.

Jay maintains a special industry calendar with more details, dates, locations, and links at: http://www.design-tools.com/events/

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com

Gary Unger, Author, Speaker, Advertising Consultant joins hosts Scott Sheppard & Gene Gable for some tips from his popular book “How to Be a Creative Genius (in five minutes or less)”. Gary’s book represents a practical and humourous take on the creative process based on his decade in working as a creative serving such clients as Chick-Fil-A, General Motors and the National Basketball Association. He is the originator of AutoZone’s “Get in the Zone” ad campaign and has a shirt in the Levi Strauss T-Shirt Hall of Fame.

Gary provides some practical advice on how to spark your creative inspiration, how to work with your clients in brainstorming creative thoughts, and offers suggestions on getting out of a design rut. Gary’s explains how his book uses humor, sarcasm, and a bit of reverse psychology to get you to think creatively about his challenging statements. Gary also developed an approach to the creative process called XDO which he uses to teach in his mentoring programs and sessions. Gary is an avid social networker and often uses LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

To find out more about Gary’s work visit: http://www.garyunger.com or visit his blog at: http://garyunger.com/blog/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay joins us this week for some hands-on tips on using Acrobat 9′s collaboration features which include a quick way to share your PDF’s via simple email links and comment together via a built-in chat. Acrobat will also allow you to easily share your screen and desktop among members of your meeting. Gene and Jay review some other features available on http://www.acrobat.com including Adobe Buzzword and ConnectNow. Jay has also been using FileChute for Mac OS, which is a quick way to send files via email links. If transferring files is common to you, you may also want to check out YouSendIt at: http://www.yousendit.com/, which offers easy click plug-ins for Acrobat, FinalCut Pro, Photoshop, Microsoft Office and others that allow you to send from within those applications.

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com

Bert Monroy, The Digital Photo Realistic Artist, Author, & Lecturer joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for an inside look at his incredible photo realistic art techniques. Bert is known as a pioneer of the digital imaging era, and the definitive artist of this genre. His work in this space is truly extraordinary. Bert explains the early days of digital tools and how he was able successfully transition from traditional mediums to a completely digital workflow which became his medium of choice; trading his pencils and brushes for a stylus and Wacom tablet. He has written numerous books on Photoshop and his techniques and continues to enjoy teaching seminars and classes, never missing a Photoshop World conference, learning from his students as he takes them through the processes.

Bert’s work focuses on his fine art and also commercial work. He walks us through his creative process that often still begins as a sketch in his journal or a photograph. He explains that every element in his fine art pieces are done by hand with a stylus using a photograph as a guide, having completely adopted the digital canvas as his pallette. His commercial work, which is often more time sensitive, may begin as a scan or a trace and is then translated into vector art elements in Adobe Illustrator before finishing the pieces with Adobe Photoshop. His approach is to make the digital medium completely transparent, although his finished work may look like a photograph they are entirely digitally rendered – including the shadow highlights and details. Bert explains that throughout the process he will use the photographs as a guide and visual reference.

Bert also shares his experiences in learning how to use the Wacom tablet and stylus instead of a pencil or brush. He feels that with the introduction of their Cintiq tablet, many of the issues in the early versions have allowed him to gain a more natural technique. He also discusses his studio setup and how he has been able to adjust his environment to get the most out of his digital canvas. Overall, Bert prefers to hone his digital skills by completely relying on the application to replicate. He will incorporate outside elements and scans when time is a factor in his projects. He is known for his ability to replicate 2D and 3D objects within the application, creating his illusions almost from scratch vs. relying on the automatic extrusion and other tools built into the Adobe Suite.

Bert is also in process of finalizing an exhibition at the Hearst Art Gallery, Saint Mary’s College of California entitled: “Bert Monroy: Master Digital Artist Retrospective” being held January 24 through April 5, with a private preview and Artist Reception / Lecture on January 18, 2009. This exhibition will feature a look at Bert’s work through the years showcasing the capabilities of the Mac Desktop Publishing platform with real examples.

Find out more about Bert’s work at: http://www.bertmonroy.com. You can also view past episodes of his popular podcast PixelPerfect at: http://revision3.com/pixelperfect/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

This week’s graphic news begins with a discussion of the recent PIA/GATF announcement of their new brand, partnership, and collaborations. Since 1887, the companies have been dedicated to educating and bringing together all participants in the printing and publishing industries. To better manage their brand and efforts they recently renamed the organization to Printing Industries of America and will soon be launching their new website – http://www.printing.org.

Jay also describes a new website developed by the DPC (Digital Printing Council) that helps designers better understand and decode some of the mysteries of going from web to print. Check out their site at: http://w2ptestdrive.com.

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com

Drew Trujillo, Designer –better known as Dr. Woohoo! joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable this week to share his background and an inside look at his amazing design work. Fusing the best of art, technology, and design Dr. Woohoo’s technical and programming background help him to bring his visions to life. Drew explains, although his early background was in traditional mediums he soon became passionate about animation and digital art applications where his current expertise tests the boundaries of Adobe’s Creative Suite.

A renowned speaker, Adobe beta tester, and educator on Adobe Flash, AIR, and other interactive platforms. One of the best places to see his work in action is on In the Mod – Color Analytics: A Study of Color Palettes website. This site offers the ability to explore art, the interaction of color and palettes, and even lets you download your favorite sets directly to your Adobe apps. Dr. Woohoo gives us his description and experiences of the power working with Adobe AIR and how it integrates within the other Adobe Suite applications.

He has also published a book showcasing his work entitled, “Color Visualizations: Exploring the Circle, vol 02“. Where he uses software he developed to generate his artwork by extracting millions of color pixels in each image, analyzing and organizing the color data and then building the composition with absolute precision.

In addition to pushing the limits of available technology, Dr. Woohoo’s art is truly unique. He combines the organic qualities of nature and textures and expands them using digital enhancements that stand out in multiple mediums. His work is available for viewing and purchase online, including his kinetic art – Dandelions.

For more information, news, tips, his art, and more visit: http://blog.drwoohoo.com/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson joins us this week to share the latest news and discussion about typefaces and a informative history of OpenType to celebrate the release of ITC’s Franklin – not Franklin Gothic offering a new range of options for larger display fonts. Jay and Gene, our resident “fontologists” share the use, sizing, and variations of this popular typeface. Jay also shares his review of the type focused movie – Helvetica, which recently came to his home town of Denver for a screening. PopChar celebrates it’s 20th birthday this month, which remains a great easy way to enter characters.

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com

Dave Tabler, Portfolio Manager, The iSpot.com joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for some background and information on their popular illustrator portfolio site. Since 1996, The iSpot.com has held a place online for artists and illustrators to join forces and showcase their work for hire and stock. Formed to assist artist representatives to have a place for clients to locate and view a range of illustrations. Dave explains there are two areas The iSpot.com focuses on; one being portfolios and the other involves rights managed stock illustrations, not clipart.

Dave has worked closely with many artists, helping them properly identify and keyword tag their particular style so that art directors and creative shoppers can easily locate their work. The ability to properly tag and identify artist samples is critical in matching the right illustrator to the right project. Dave shares some insight on the work they’ve done to adjust and maintain popular tags. The iSpot.com has comprehensive tracking for each image viewed and will coach the artists on how to best showcase their most popular styles. Dave also explains their revenue model, and the costs associated in working with them. Althought the iSpot.com is one of the most renowned and popular websites dedicated to illustration, Dave explains that they continue to advertise and promote their services to ensure their artists get hired. They are a global site, representing artists from over 26 countries.

For more information on The iSpot.com visit their site at: http://www.theispot.com/

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jay Nelson joins us this week for an update on Adobe’s recent release of Creative Suite 4 addressing the pressing question – Should I upgrade? Jay explains that many times designers skip a version so Adobe may see more updates from CS2 to CS4 than from their current CS3 base. Gene explains that this jump might also require a significant hardware upgrade in order to take advantage of the new features. Jay shares some of his favorite new enhancements including a redesigned interface, better collaboration tools, new 3D effects, and keyboard shortcuts. For more information and details visit: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/

For more on Jay Nelson and his Design Tools topics visit: http://www.design-tools.com

Mark Dancey, Designer/Cartoonist/Illustrator, Illuminado joins Inside Digital Design for some information about his work and how he gains exposure and clients as a traditional illustrator. Mark’s work includes gallery exhibitions, album designs, cartoons and other organic media. Mark shares his experiences and insights on how he uses digital representations of his art on his website to promote to his clients but explains that although it provides instant access, maintaining the original artist intent from analog to digital can present compromises and challenges.

For more about his work visit: http://www.illuminado.com

Gene Gable shares some insightful tips about how to avoid burnout at work based Harris Interactive® study completed for CareerBuilder.com.The study concluded that over 78% of workers felt burned out at work. One of the most popular options employees choose is alternative work schedules, compressed work weeks, or working from home. Gene, who works from home, warns that these options are not always the best solutions for reducing stress and can in fact create more stress in balancing your home and work life. Gene also reminds us the value of saying the word “no”. To read more on the story visit: http://www.creativepro.com/article/seventy-eight-percent-workers-say-they-are-burned-out-work

Design News of the Week with Jay Nelson

Jeff Gamut fills in for Jay again this week with some news about a new monitor from Hewlett-Packard, the HP DreamColor LP2480zx Professional Display and discusses some unique tri-color LED backlight technologies that help to acheive billions of color and includes presets for the most popular large color spaces including Adobe RGB. This LCD is built for graphic and photo professionals, and in fact was developed in part with the work HP has done with Dreamworks Animation Studios.

For more information about Jay, Jeff and Design Tools visit: http://www.design-tools.com.

Foster D. Coburn III, Author, Trainer, & Founder, Unleashed Productions, Inc. joins Inside Digital Design to share some insight and information about CorelDRAW products and users. Foster has written over 8 books and completed 45 training tapes teaching users how to make the most of CorelDRAW. Corel’s design tools offer an integrated graphics suite that are powerful but very easy to use at a very affordable price. Many people assume that most creative professionals use Adobe on a Mac as their primary design tool, however he explains there are many creative markets including fashion, sign making, embroidery and promotional products whose primary applications are Corel running on a Windows platform.

Foster describes some of the features and capabilities of the latest versions, which are also compatible with and available for the Mac OS. Foster has developed and is hosting a series of “Boot Camp” Training Seminars including a 7-day intensive vacation cruise session from Los Angeles to Mexico in January 2009.

To find out more about Foster’s books, training and other Corel resources visit: http://www.unleash.com

Scott and Gene round out the week with a productivity tip from David Allan’s “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” about making a list to acheive your goals.

Jim Sherraden, Artist and Manager, Hatch Show Print joins hosts Scott Sheppard and Gene Gable for a historical look and some details involved in running one of the oldest working letterpress print shops in America. Now part of Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame, Hatch Show Print has been producing fine concert, advertising, and other poster prints since about 1879. Poster reprints and Jim’s original Monoprints are available for purchase through their online store.

In 2001, Jim collaborated on a book showcasing some of the shops most memorable posters and anecdotes titled, “Hatch Show Print: The History of a Great American Poster Shop“. Although the technologies are traditional or even primitive to some, the elements, enthusiam, and their talented staff’s dedication to their craft inspires us to get back to basics. For more information visit: http://www.hatchshowprint.com

Trish Kinsella, Designer & Founder, Dauphine Press joins Inside Digital Design to discuss how she combines modern digital design and traditional letterpress. Trish manages a successful print shop creating beautifully handcrafted stationary, wedding invitations, cards, and more. Knowing the capabilities of her presses, Trish discusses how she brings the best of both worlds into her design. Although Trish has a background in graphic design and the digital design applications, she has a passion for the traditional look and feel of letterpress printing. Her work showcases this traditionalism with a very modern flair that can only be acheived using this printing method and, as she points out, creative paper choices that showcase the overall designs.

For more information and examples of her work visit: http://dauphinepress.com/