Graphic design often involves mixing media and design styles to achieve a creative result, so it’s important to know how to use a variety of tools, techniques and resources at your disposal to create a coherent composition. Without a coherent and well thought out composition, your artworks will not have the polished and memorable finished result that you’re hoping for. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to have some fun with vectors, custom brushes, and stock images to create a colorful and eye-catching nature themed girl composition in Photoshop. You’ll see how to use various effects to focus the viewer’s eye, how to mix vectors and stock images so that it looks coherent, and find yet another application for custom brushes from our previous tutorials.


submitted: 5 years and 3137 days ago

Geometric shapes have a natural affinity in design and can play very well off of each other as well as a main subject for the composition. The familiarity of the human mind with various geometric shapes and the natural mathematical order that is inherent in geometry can make your designs more appealing. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create some geometry-based brushes and then apply them for a creative Nike shoe design. You’ll see how to incorporate geometry into your own designs, and with these brush creation techniques, you’ll be able to create nearly any geometric-based design you desire.


submitted: 5 years and 3137 days ago

3D text effects are common elements in graphic design and advertising. The extra depth dimension allows images to visually pop from the page, and provide excellent building blocks for development of an image. A variety of tools can be used to create them, but creation of 3D text effects often requires significant time, patience, and knowledge. In this tutorial, we will teach you step by step how to render beautiful and visually sharp 3d text in 3D Studio Max, render it using Mental Ray, and then combine it with additional visual elements to create an atmospheric, nature inspired 3D text composition using Photoshop. If you don’t have 3D Studio Max, fear not, for a beautiful PNG render is included so you can still follow the Photoshop section.


submitted: 5 years and 3146 days ago

Photoshop, when combined with a vector program such as Illustrator, can yield some incredible effects that are perfect for creating desktop wallpapers. The ability to combine stock images with vector shapes, 3D objects and lines will help make any of your compositions more dynamic. In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a dynamic desktop wallpaper called "Dance". You’ll learn how to manipulate some stock images, create super cool vector 3D shapes, and build a dynamic composition using multiple elements. Read on to get started!


submitted: 5 years and 3151 days ago

To sort of wrap up our series on using liquid effects for design, today, we will look at how to use liquid photo-stocks to create a gorgeous and stunning liquid text effect in Photoshop. By using some clever techniques, we can warp liquids into a variety of shapes to meet our needs. In this case, you’ll learn how to create letters from liquids, and then add in some extra effects for a dynamic composition. All you need is Photoshop and some free stock images, so let’s get started!


submitted: 5 years and 3152 days ago

In this tutorial, Paul will show you how to create a vibrant and colorful abstract space artwork using Photoshop, Illustrator, and stock images.


submitted: 5 years and 3220 days ago

Omega Code is a band that ran a massive design contest to create interest in their music, by allowing designers to use their unique triangle logo and compete to win the contest. Many of the Omega Code posters are masterful works of art, and range from steampunk to retro space. One style that wasn’t seen, however, was an underwater take on the Omega Code. In this tutorial, you’ll learn step by step how to create a brilliant 3D shatter triangle effect, and then combine it with a background and familiar underwater elements to create a brilliant finished work. From polygons in 3D Studio Max, bombs to shatter the geometry, and incredible underwater creatures added in Photoshop, you’ll learn everything you need to create your own digital artworks. Let’s get started!


submitted: 5 years and 3271 days ago

3D renders are often combined with vector elements and photostock elements to create stunning visual effects. While some artworks can be created merely in Photoshop, most designers are forced to call upon other programs in order to achieve truly brilliant effects. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a Poser figure, create a shatter effect and render it in 3DStudio Max, then use Photoshop and some simple stock images to create a brilliant and visually stunning water explosion effect. Even if you don’t have Poser or 3DSMax, we’ve included the render in a PNG format for you to play with, and you’ll still learn valuable techniques. This tutorial covers many advanced techniques, but not to fear, as we will walk you through step-by-step how to create it. You’ll learn rendering, depth of field, dispersion, photomanipulation, and how to add the tiny details that all combine for a brilliant artwork. So, let’s get started!


submitted: 5 years and 3350 days ago