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Here is the new thread for posting good creative resources for any and all creative fields. The old thread is here. Rules: 1. Please start the reply with what field/practice it is for in bold... example: PHOTOSHOP, DESIGN, 3D, WRITING, PAINTING, ETC. 2. Give a good description of what the resource is and don't forget to provide the link. Sample pics are ok but keep them to a minimum. 3. If a resource sucks or is spam, just flag it and I'll make sure a mod takes care of it. *Note, there is some overlap between sections. ------------------------ WRITING Goonreads - SA members can post their books, promote their books, and have an author blog hosted at the site. http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...hreadid=3509534 is our thread, which has a lot more info. Books and authors are very well organized in a listing that auto-updates every time a book is posted. Also available are goon services, such as editorial and illustration. Professional Duotrope - Searchable database for literary magazines with Writers' Market-like info (what genres they take, how much they pay, when they're reading submissions, etc). NewPages.com - A reader's resource for finding literary journals. Mediabistro - Jobs, classes, community and news for media professionals. Ed2020 - Magazine job leads and career advice. Writer'sMarket.com - Online writing resource for writers to sell their work. AgentQuery - A database of literary agents. Preditors and Editors - A guide to publishers and publishing services. Proper Manuscript Format - Includes templates for novels, short stories, and poems. The Passive Voice - A blog on writing and publishing by a former IP lawyer. He's pretty harsh on traditional publishing, but his posts on contract negotiation are insightful. I've linked to these specifically. Business Rusch Publishing Articles - Good blog on the business of writing, including contract negotiation. Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America - Includes guides to Standard Manuscript Format and also home to Writer Beware, the publishing scam watch. Critique Groups LitReactor - An online writers workshop. You start with enough points to submit one story, and can earn more by reviewing. Also has many good tutorials. Critique Circle - Online writing workshop. Works on a credit basis, meaning you must give critiques to get them. Zoetrope - The Virtual Studio is an online workshop program for fiction writers, screenwriters, storyboard artists etc. Writing Basics Daily Grammar - A comprehensive archive of grammar lessons. Daily Writing Tips - Your one stop shop for tricky grammar rules. Grammar Girl - Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Ken Rand: The 10% Solution - Best book I've found on line-editing, hands down. The ebook can be found at Fictionwise. Since the forum reformats the direct link and screws it up, it's found here http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b19307/The-10-Solution/Ken-Rand/ but you have to type in the question mark at the end manually to make it work. It strips it for some reason. Writing Advice K.M. Weiland - Features two excellent blogs: one for fiction writing tips and one for marketing, publishing, and book talk. There Are No Rules - Blog by the editors of Writer's Digest. Lots of helpful writing tips. Write to Done - Another great writing advice blog, focused on the craft whether for fiction, journalism, or blogging. Writer Unboxed - A fiction oriented writing advice blog with many professional contributors. Advice to Writers - Daily quotes from famous authors to aspiring writers. Book View Cafe - Excellent blog by a professional writer's co-op, including Ursula K. Leguin. Home to some excellent writing advice. Genre focused, including YA fiction. Terrible Minds - Chuck Wendig's blog. Plenty no-bullshit writing advice here (or maybe it's all bullshit, but whatever it is—it's awesome). Creative Writing with the Crimson League - Fantasy author Victoria Grefer discusses the craft of fiction. Pretty good blog. Turkey City Lexicon - Terms you'll find thrown about most SFF writing circles describing the worst cliches and amateur writing faux pas. Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions - from SFWA. Odyssey Podcasts - From the Odyssey Writing Workshop on sff.net. Writing Excuses - Podcast. I Should be Writing - Podcast for aspiring fiction writers. How Not to Write a Novel - A great and funny guide to all the don'ts of novel writing. Writing Tools - One of the books most frequently recommended in the fiction discussion thread. Writing Apps Scrivener - A non-linear word processor at a reasonable price (Mac & Win). Organize large projects in binders. Switch between cork-board, outline, & writing modes (single, double-pane, and fullscreen). Compile in many formats, including ebooks. Too many cool features to list. Write or Die - An application to FORCE you to write. Input your word goal. You fall behind, it punishes you. CleanText.org - Text formatter designed to get rid of extraneous crap. Writer - The internet typewriter. Basic online writing app. 750 Words - Goal oriented online writing app. Wordl - Create word clouds. Gives a good visual of how many times you use certain words. Good way to find out if you use too many crutch words (that, was, of …). Misc Writing The Bookshelf Muse - This blog has a "writing thesaurus" that has interesting breakdowns of different character, setting, and symbolism archetypes. Writers Resources - Big list of writing links. Not pretty, but might contain something useful. Seventh Sanctum - A writing idea generator. Seems pretty fandom oriented though. DESIGN Professional FreelanceSwitch - Freelance jobs, forum & directory. Core77 - Industrial design magazine & resource. Product Design Forums - Industrial design community, blog, and resources. Inspiration Design Inspiration - Pretty much the only design inspiration site you'll ever need again. Has the best search function known to man (just start typing). Compfight - A Flickr Search Tool. FFFFOUND! - An image bookmarking site that is a great resource for inspiration, mostly design-oriented, but there are other neat things as well. Unfortunately, membership is invitation only, but it's a great website to check out if you're blocked. Toxel.com - Design inspiration and tech concepts. Graphic-ExchanGE - A selection of graphic projects for inspiration. FormFiftyFive - Showcases examples of design, illustration, typography, and photography. Links to recently updated portfolios of designers and design studios. The Dieline - A package design blog/community. Inspiration from professionals and students around the world. Logopond - Logo designers can showcase their work and offer inspiration to other designers. NOTCOT.org - Thumbnails link to student portfolios, advertisements, and architectural projects from around the world. Updated daily by readers. Lovely Package - Curating the very best packaging design. Behance Network - Online portfolio showcasing site. SpoonGraphics - Blog for design inspiration. AIGA - Design inspiration. Design Daily - Design inspiration & resources. Abduzeedo - Blog with tutorials, inspiration, and resources. Fast Company - Co.Create, Co.Exist, and Co.Design: all three provide incredible articles on what is happening right now in the creative world. It's inspirational and informative - providing articles on innovation, ideation, results and trends. Today's Inspiration - Blog for illustration from the 40's to the 60's. Almost every week there's a new artist being spotlighted, with high-res photos. Gurafiku - A collection by Ryan Hageman of the history of Japanese graphic design. Tutorials The Grid System - The ultimate resource in grid systems. Includes tools, templates, and tutorials. Photoshop Lover - Free Photoshop resource downloads & tutorials. Links to different tutorials from all over the web. Psdtuts+ - Adobe Photoshop tutorials from beginner to advanced. Vectortuts+ - Adobe Illustrator and vector tutorials, from beginner to advanced. The Gnomon Workshop - Industrial design training. GoMediaZine - Vector & Photoshop tutorials, insight from people in the biz, and free application resources like Illustrator brushes and vector packs. Pixel2Life - Tutorials for just about any mainstream design application out there. Design Guy - Graphic design podcast. iTunes link Will it Print - Indesign tutorial for printing from Creative Pro (pdf). Dota2 Character Art Guide - Valve's character design guidelines from DOTA2. Topics include working with silhouettes, visual hierarchy, and color theory. Not a "how-to" but a general overview of process and methods. The information and concepts can easily be applied to other illustration work. Resources Design Resource Search Engine - Enter a keyword and it searches for free resources with that keyword (vectors, brushes, etc). TinEye - Image search with image identification; give it an image, it searches its ever-growing index of websites for the image. Idea being you can see if your artwork is being used/stolen without permission. iStock Photo - Cheap, royalty-free quality stock photography, illustrations, flash, and video. stock.xchng - Free stock photos. The quality is sometimes great, sometimes not so great, but helpful for mockup/presentation situations. morgueFile - Free stock photography resource. Be sure to check the usage license! Lorum Ipsum - Dummy text generator. Color Scheme Designer - Web-based app. Brands of the World™ - Large library of free vector downloads for corporate identities. Designer in Action - German design site with Adobe tools and fonts. The Noun Project - Free, CC licensed icons for pretty much anything you might need. Lost and Taken - Free high resolution textures. Len White's Painter's Wheel - Free color wheel plug-in for Photoshop CS4 and higher. Coolorus Colorpicker - Paid color wheel plug-in for CS4 and higher. Has free trial. Dover Publications - For clipart and stuff. TYPOGRAPHY Thinking with Type - Probably the best tutorial out there for typographers. Amazon link to book. Typography Daily - Your daily dose of type. I Love Typography - Fonts, typefaces and all things typographical. The FontFeed - a typography blog. Typedia - A Shared Encyclopedia of Typefaces. Typography by Friedrich Friedl - An excellent book on typography (Amazon link). Typography Keyboard Layout - A tool that lets you enter characters usually unavailable on a keyboard. Typophile - Typographer forum. What type are you? - An interesting thing that selects a typeface for you. Font Identification WhatTheFont! - Font recognition from an uploaded image. Identifont - Don't know a font's name, but have a specimen? This site asks you questions about the font's structure to help you figure out what it's called. flipping typical - Goes through all your installed fonts and displays what a word will look like in them. STC fontBROWSER - Flash-based font browser that allows you to quickly view custom text previews of your installed fonts, faster than most management programs. Fonts ITCFonts - Paid fonts. K-TYPE - Paid fonts. Phils Fonts Inc. - Paid fonts. Storm Type - Paid font foundry. Font Cubes - Free font downloads. Organized alphabetically, so helpful if you already know a font's name. dafont.com - Free fonts. Abstract Fonts - Free fonts. No big name fonts (ie. Emigre caliber), but there are a lot to choose from, and has excellent organization/searchability. exljbris Font Foundry - Free fonts by Jode Buivenga. Ten by Twenty - Free fonts and Wordpress themes. Greyscale Basic - Free typeface. typekit - webfonts hosted by adobe, licensed on a subscription basis. The portfolio subscription gives you full access and license to their complete library, for only $50 a year. WEB DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN Inspiration Styleboost - Regularly updated blog that catalogs interesting designs. Not all are just FWA winners either, so you get a good mix. Web Creme - Web design inspiration. PatternTap - Inspiration for common web elements (tabs, comments, breadcrumbs, etc.). Outlaw Design Blog - A graphic and web design blog. Creattica - Good source of inspiration and web/design resources. Line25 - Web design blog. CSS Design Awards - Awards and CSS gallery. Behance Network - Showcases web design projects. Tutorials Nettuts+ - Web development tutorials, from beginner to advanced. A List Apart - Magazine with great articles on design and coding etc. The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web - A practical guide to web typography, in the style of Robert Bringhurst's famous book. Useful Cheat Sheets for Web Designers - Keyboard shortcuts, color codes, CSS tips, point/pixels/em conversion chart, OS common fonts, html special characters, etc. DesignM.ag - Web development and design blog. Aatrek's gif making guide. Don't Make Me Think - A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (book - Amazon link). Designing With Web Standards - Book (Amazon link). Resources Smashing Magazine - Great resources such as free fonts, templates, and tutorials. Noupe - Lots of good design resources. BLUE VERTIGO - Web design resources links. Lots of stuff here. ThemeForest - Premium WordPress themes, web templates, and mobile themes. You can upload site templates and and get paid for it. jQuery - THE javascript library. Pretty much replaces MooTools these days. David Walsh blog - Formerly scriptandstyle.com. A blog with useful code resources. Tools gridr buildrrr - Grid builder for websites. sIFR - by Mike Industries. Text replacement tool (used for inserting non-standard fonts into pages). kuler - Color schemer from Adobe (note: non-functional in FF3). TredoSoft - Install multiple versions of IE on your PC. BgPatterns - Background patterns maker. Browsershots - Check browser compatibility: cross platform browser test. Typetester - Core web font comparison tool. Gif Animator - Free trial by Ulead. VirtualDub - Gif software. ART & ILLUSTRATION Escape From Illustration Island - Illustration resources and community. Has great tutorials and articles on the illustration business. Inspiration ConceptArt.org - Inspiration from some of the best contemporary artists in the world. startdrawing.org - The Asia drawing portal. Good drawing inspiration. ImagineFX - Fantasy & Sci-Fi digital art magazine, published in Europe. The DVD it always comes with is priceless in addition. Drawn - Daily blog of inspiration for illustration, animation, cartooning, and comic art. yay!everyday - Inspiration site. Elfwood - Fantasy art community. CGHub - Social Networking site for professionals in the Entertainment Design Industry - Concept Art, Animation, 3D Animation/Modelling, Production Painting, etc. CG Society - Another portal/Social Network site for creative professionals in the Entertainment Design Industry. Dominance War - Massive Art Challenge Online. References Posemaniacs - Provides 3D models in hundreds of poses to practice figure drawing from. Character Designs - An artist's resource including refs and textures. PBase.com - Photo reference. Male Models Vintage Beefcake - All the beefy man poses you'll ever need. Flickriver - Aggregates an endless scrolling page of Flickr photos according to search terms. The Drawing Script - Photo references for drawing, has timer for sketching. Quickposes - Poses for gesture drawing practice. Public Health Image Library - The CDC has a ton of high resolution, mostly public domain images that cover all kinds of health-related subjects. The EM imagery section is especially good. Library of Congress Image Archive - The Library of Congress has hundreds of thousands of high resolution, mostly public domain images of subjects ranging from gold rush San Francisco to WPA posters to 18th century political cartoons. It takes a little looking, but there's some fantastic stuff there. Tutorials PSG Art tutorial - A giant tutorial covering most of the basics. Andrew Loomis Anatomy Books - Full photo references from Loomis' books. Ultimate Figure Drawing Course - The first 19 lessons are available for free. Enliighten - Digital painting tutorials and foundation drawing. The Gnomon Workshop - Drawing tutorials. Industrial Design Sketching - Sketching and drawing video tutorials. idrawgirls.com - How to draw and paint tutorials video and step by step. ctrl+Paint - Digital painting tutorials (video). sinixdesign - Illustration tutorials (YouTube). Figure Drawing for All It's Worth - Andrew Loomis book (Amazon link). Dynamic Anatomy - Burne Hogarth book (Amazon Link). Storyboards: Motion In Art - Book (Amazon link). Complete Drawing Course - Book (Amazon Link). Single Tutorials Comic Tools: Brushes Physical, not Photoshop brushes. Color zones of the face. itchy animation - Lighting tutorial. Mapping gamut - Photoshop tutorial. Adjustment Layer Tutorial - Photoshop (YouTube). Masking Tutorial - Photoshop (YouTube). How to Make Limited Palettes - Photoshop tutorial (YouTube). Jason Chan Digital Illustration - Photoshop tutorial (YouTube). Digital Figure Painting - Photoshop (YouTube). Requires sign-in for age verification. Digital Painting Tutorial : Hanagumori - Part 1 (YouTube). Applying Texture Without Looking Like a Douche - (YouTube). Mecha Machine - Digital painting tutorial (YouTube). Painting a Dragon - (YouTube). Inking tutorial - (video). How To Draw - Tutorial on deviantART. How to Draw in Your Skectchbook - (YouTube). Apps & Tools Alchemy - Web-based art program useful for doing conceptual artwork and pre-planning. It has a unique tool that lets you draw in shapes to create silhouettes. Pixelmator - (Mac only) A great Photoshop replacement that won't break your pocketbook. Paint.NET - Free software for digital photo editing (PC). ArtRage - Another alternative to Photoshop and Painter. The Gamut Mask - Free Interactive color harmony tool for painters. COLOURlovers - Pre-made palette browser. 3D, VIDEO, & MOTION GRAPHICS Motionographer - A great blog for seeing the latest and greatest motion graphics and 3d projects. Check out the "Cream" section, a "best of" list for agencies and solo designers. AudioJungle - Royalty-free stock music, sound effects, and audio. Internet Archive - Digital library of free books, movies, music & Wayback Machine. Recommended for finding public domain media for film projects. Animateclay - The stop motion animation how-to page. Book (Amazon link). 3D 3D-Palace - Over 900 video tutorials covering all major 3d applications. Over 70% free to download. The Gnomon Workshop - Professional 3D training for artists. Creative Crash - High quality 3D models, scripts, plugins and more. CG Textures - Textures for 3D, graphic design and Photoshop. Mayang's Free Texture Library. LamrUG - Mental ray user group resources. Mr Materials - Good resource for custom mental ray shaders. Film & Video Video Blocks - Stock video site. $70/month gives you full access to their huge library. Amazon Studios - A place where you can submit scripts for development. The DV Rebel's Guide - An All-Digital Approach to Making Killer Action Movies on the Cheap. Book (Amazon link). Rebel without a Crew - Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player, Robert Rodriguez. Book (Amazon link). Motion Graphics ae tuts+ - LOTS of good After Effects tutorials, mostly free. More graphics oriented than Video Copilot. VIDEO COPILOT - After Effects tutorials, plug-ins and stock footage for post production professionals. Basic training is here. Creative COW - After Effects video tutorials and misc stuff. maltaannon.com - Excellent After Effects tutorials and scripts. This guy is good friends with Andrew Kramer from Video Copilot. VideoHive - After Effects projects, motion graphics, C4D templates. All Bets Are Off Productions - After Effects tutorials. ayato@web - After Effects tutorial site (no vids). Adobe After Effects CS4 Visual Effects and Compositing Studio Techniques - Book (Amazon link). The After Effects Illusionist - All the Effects in One Complete Guide. Book (Amazon link). PHOTOGRAPHY Photo Magazine - Professional photography industry news and resources. Subscribe to the magazine for full access to the site. Photo.net - Forums, Equipment reviews, tips, tricks, blog and gallery. A frequently recommended resource. Strobist - Lighting Blog. Great for beginners who want to learn how to use their hot shoe flash units off camera. The Art of Photography - Podcast. TheMindfulEye - Photography tutorials (YouTube). Multicolr Search Lab - Idée Inc. - Search Flickr images by color. PORTFOLIO & PRINTING Blurb - Use this store to make a professional looking portfolio/book. Prices are decent too. OvernightPrints - Printing for business cards, postcards, brochures, and greeting cards. FINE ART Brain Pickings - A blog chock full of neat stuff—art, writing, science, etc. Great source of inspiration for any creative. Letters of Note - "An attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos." This site caught my eye due to hilarious letters by famous authors, but there's much more. Great source of inspiration. Flavorpill - New York art scene. The blog Flavorwire often has neat stuff. The Wire - UK art scene. artforum - Contemporary art scene (conceptual, somewhat pretentious). ZAPPlication.org - Digital jury system for applying to multiple art shows. They index over 200 of the largest shows in America. BermanGraphics - Collection of articles discussing the application process (for Zapp, etc). Art Fair Sourcebook Forums - Artists community who discuss tips, tricks, and news about the art show circuit (free registration). Web Gallery of Art - Image collection, virtual museum, searchable database of European fine arts (1000-1850). WAYS OF SEEING - (first episode) 1/4 on YouTube. Art Renewal Center® - A community for Classicism elitists that are discontent with modern approaches and liberal attitudes to the arts. Humble Pied - Originally started as a friend-sourced presentation for an AIGA student conference, with peers offering their words of wisdom within the creative industry. This project was made to house all of the great bits of advice, and to stimulate dialogues along the way. Art Heroes Radio - Podcast on making a living as an artist. Local Fleisher - Philadelphia art classes. The Philadelphia Sketch Club neighborhood2test - Listing art related locations in Chicago. CERAMICS, SLIP CASTING, SCULPTURE, CONTEMPORARY Clay Club - John Britt, glaze expert. Bray Blog - Archie Bray Foundation. Even Pomerantz Fine Art - Process photos and information about ceramics, slip casting, mold making and sculpture. Last year he won several well known awards with his work, including first place in the NCECA juried college show. If you post questions he'll answer them too. Fukami Sueh - Slip Casting (images and process only). Also found here: http://www.yufuku.net/artists/fukami_sueharu.html Beth Cavener Stichter - Her website is full of tons of technical info on ceramics. One of the few artists who is both incredibly visually talented and has a very, very deep technical knowledge of how things work. MISC Color Method of Action - a quick color theory game you can play whenever you have a spare 10 minutes. CutePDF - The free PDF Converter. Cursive Handwriting Practice - (pdf worksheets). Zygotebody - Clinical anatomy interactive (formerly Googlebody). Exquisite Corpse - Facebook drawing game. PitchCake - How sweet is your sales pitch? Try them out here. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Aug 4, 2013 |
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Apr 26, 2012 02:05
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| # ¿ May 1, 2024 08:14 |
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And here's a few tutorial images from the last thread:  
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Apr 26, 2012 02:07
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Thanks for the heads up. It seems the forum is screwing with url formatting. It's stripping the question mark off the end of the url for some reason. Since I can't seem to make it work, I've put the full url there and you have to add the ? to the end manually to make it work. 
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Jun 7, 2012 01:58
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Great links, guys. Thanks. I've updated the OP. I gotta question for y'all. Anyone have some great recommendations for vector stock art? (paid or free)
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Jul 20, 2012 03:29
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Finally updated the OP. Thanks for the new links, and thanks, noggut, for pointing out a dead one. Pbase seems to still be alive but artyposes is definitely gone.
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Nov 19, 2012 22:00
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