SUC a GA Tay cere) (0) | a one work online Gear suger ae i arate ee ‘ Aye fw 1 A Pee Soe cee Ro a) \ READER prreree Be inspired by our selection Sects Sa nod Black Panther artist Emory Douglas creatives tested and rated in labs 5) ee ena Pee cr Ne 9 Revotutionary art 3)(CON Gam Diy Mme Building on award-winning ATI FireGL” graphics technology the all new ELLIS Viera ir aaa ee eee OD amen ean ATI FirePro” Graphics Accelerators. No Boundaries. Eset eran ee ea tematic ht Lue Raton a eens Cerne eg reas Seren te Tou a ea case Tel. +44 (0) 1844 263 748 2 DET uu nace ETL LTy een en ned g DOA ene Call, +44 (0) 1844 263 748 fel ee fe) erent A AMD7Z\ ReyDigitalArts ‘ea ar en Rs hee SprTORIAL er yon gh mney out eo Nel Benet eh eet ak ‘oie eater ke ees ke ssedacauk ied Je Chan on cero ‘covmumuToRS Ga benalSn npr Sh Rane sate et ses Tg a PRODUCTION SERVICES ‘1aFTAL STOOK PROTOORAPHY ie Ses ae Sete fom Cat nage ‘Tecimownoy fe 5 nda Pn 0 wean bs Po obs abies 7 ee Rat Calin ster oto on ES 38967 ‘ate eon 0 ug 20 os "209 C0 ee ao ‘ieudgtaetsorre cut 020756 260 es 2071585 208 WORLD LEADERS WN PUBLISHING =IDG ‘editorial welcome “The midhighe chimes of Big Ben nay berating move on a hozy memory but the start oF 0 pew so shuld ring in more than afew vogue resolutions. The Fst few weeks of 2008 ul ‘ee many designers pouse nd toke stock of thelr work dents ond even retve direction ‘before plunging into the doys chad new yoar i oluays a time for ‘elnvertion. Beyond geting ft and coring ‘voy the cuter, he fest months fa new ‘yer ore a perc opprtnity o sping leon our peo on revive how the wold ond rospective clens se you lve given you a seasonal helping hand uit our feature on refusing your online pero with top creative tis in trnsferning ‘Sale anne offering into something with ar sor ipo ‘ou mia even be leokng to sharpen bath ou sills on your mage Wl tak to some ofthe eong dg! image etouchess about how tay sucessfully menace Images to ‘cect avless photos ond perfect convases ‘ox brones nd inthe spit of embracing change, our ceatve mastsclosses wil help t9 pond oor sis, This sue we have tte in ‘eating 30 tet effects with painteffect ‘bockorounds designing o etroook hand ‘oun og poster: composting astonishing 3 rendered scenes in Phoxoshop: ord eating and animating o character in lash, ‘We ao review Former Slack Poseher ‘cts ond onc desgne: Emory Doutos to gon insight to hs work ond now the (cective word has sited over te yers~ on cpt reminder thar each new yer bigs res work, new ideas, and new developments Ke =f nn ight cece ee ole‘contents in this issue REATIVE PHOTO RETOUCHING BOOST B K “Top atists 430 uhet’s possible ond acceptable) sing Relvesh your webs forthe new yea we dx what Phowashep = pus on advonced retouching mastercase you need fr topnotch ste thet il doze You ents \ MORY DOUG! ANIMAT )O0-VE VOL The Blok Panne minster of cure telecon tne ‘xi imation cls vs now purple fgg cous hg nv inpoct of he greundbeaking ond controversial ortworks seal doy were esental tos ten commec el, re) ‘Toon BOOM ANIMATE PLE eer Get ur Ras on his fo fected : Coy ee erent oer Windousbesed video tint Ped i 1CK, 00-1T-VOURSE T Hou to make posers nok town togethersarude text. then messi vp with pint brushes i IF HF Top tips for creating eppeaing cnine charters W'S & PRODUCTS eae nstetionhappeiags and gages stock ‘B00ST YOUR WEBS! re } P24 INSIGHT: EMORY DOUGLAS The Bok Porers oe assess wosk ANIMATION TO MOo-VE YoU singe aeons ont oreug ND oo < WELCOME TO PLEASURELAND MERGE 90 WITH PHOTOSHOP DV Gia PosTERS Dagtany eres handed punk posters 80 TEXT ANO PAINT EFFECTS. {Gorn top png ond conooiting methods 2 FLAGH GAME CHARACTERS PRODUCT REVIEWS: Get gen fi etered a your door Group Test co Paces baton your ee cea VLE The lest proevel monitors from De, ve, HP. ati, NEC ‘ne Somsung pu edo etd ind the est for ou contents Digtalirts 05bil citi ‘The creative organization British Design Innovation (BDI has revealed the results ofits anna industry ‘survey = reporting a strong year for Britain's designers despite forecasts fora worsening ‘eanamic climate The findings show growth in terms of income, employees, fee levels, and a surge in London: based activity. The British Design Industry Valuation Survey 2007- 2008 surveyed over 4500 ‘commercial design firms, and found tht larger firme reported (Overall the survey says that 05 Dighaltvts news {income across the industry grew to £44 billion, up from £4 bi fon the previous year, with larger ‘companies reporting income rising by 14 percent. However, the ssirvey found that smaller design firms saw tmovee fal by three per cent. Design studios earning less than £50.00 saw income fall by 17 percent year on year The mumber of designers in the industry grew by just over five percent scoring tothe report The biggest growth vas seen in mid-sized firms employing, between 21-50 staf with growth at M por cent Smaller design firme mported a sight fll mst sre British designers eport strong growth The British Design Industry 2008 annual survey reveals o good year for designers - but warns of trouble ahead. Fee income also gr although larger design firms led the way with a Fae income groveth (FH por cont for firme generating £1 million oF more. Smaller design firms wens hardest hit by the growing economic dovntm, ‘with studios earning ls than £100,000 reporting fall in foe income of up to 1 per cent “The report showed that branding and graphics design isciplines remain the largest, market sector with 62 percent of agencies working in this arena Ist over half of studios erated multimedia or new media work, ‘with jase under hal of studios «creating packaging design or handling exhibition and event ‘work, The largest client sector ‘was services at 56 por cont, with cenertainment accounting for 31 per cent of cient However, despite the surge in sgrovet, the report cautioned that asthe Full effects of the economic crisis were el, design firms could face a wave of cents postponing, reducing or even cancelling projects. The BDI is calling on ‘Sesgn Firms to ensure tighter contracts and altemative income models to protct a credit eu rtshdsignbmnooationorgero) ate ed to promote Quom mince, The ad's 2D images were scannied and painted using Animo, and then composited in After Effects, In partnership wth Universal Pires, Fromestves teat ataton. The Tle of Desperux isthe sry of owe mouse ue bts oreo ices Wt cew of 278 ing ok prducten ots andes. Fromestre deleted 725 shots for Nikon launches D3X DSLR StongesangeOhes omens New photographic technologies debut in digital SLR. [Nika has released Systm that can refine auto the D3X,a new FX format —expostre,asto-white balance digital SL camera with and autofocus ealeulations 245-mogapixel resolution. Costing Other features include ‘24,7820 plus VAT, the D3X uses SI-point autofocus, 15 CMOS sensorand a shooting crosstype sensors and speed of up to frames per 6 horizontal sensors ‘second, Ierecords in TIFF JPEG that track and lock -lhard Cen of Peng ond Damion ‘or NEF (Niko raw format) ‘onto moving sbjets Hate of nedtzero nave este @ Tor 14-bit compressed oF Niko has inchided 3D Cole ofenimated end Mined music uncompressed formats, and Color Matrix Metering T and supports UDMA-compatible Active D-Lighting which helps shutter system designed to excved ‘CompactFlash cards the fastest determine proper expossire and_——_S0D OX eyes; a viet with cards available creates elise contrast while 7X magnification, 30-inch LCD With an ISO range of 100, simultaneously compensating for display with 170 degree viewable 4 1600, a startup time of O12 lost shadows an highlights angle, HDMI video outpat and seconds and a shuttsr rekase lag ‘The camera features an outer 941.400 shots-percharge lithium time of 004 ssconds the D3X also shell that’s moisture, shock and ion battery. comes with a Scene Recngnition dust esistantsa sel-diagnostic Nikon, olen co.uk ‘A permanent gallery dedicated ta showcasing the work of graffiti and urban artists has 4 Ree eee ae Rt Bt ee Na CD ‘Ad agency Mother and director Kim Coon ee Le me a aU See oan ee Sr li ne ee ‘Smoke & Mitrars MY to create a spat For ‘anes aanl Seto acho! Cinesite creates explosive VFX for cult classic remake eee coe eee Superimposed ont scenes of volence F Cinesie has completed a 1950scult clic telling the story The environments were Sone aaa ae imior VEX sequence for ofanalincraftcoming to Ear, cred by napecding hlcopter | nd ptcthuman is SHS San theTwenith Century bringing witht the enigmatic plates fred by Rye to add | BUONO ote soto Fox production TheDay The Earth Kat Keanu Rees) and is dynamism and pace. The orginal | ipa dean el eo ie Sto Stil compete withG lant wobot Gor bes were loo topincedae oe eee pla ada expen Cinesit’s main ees involve graded wera new lighting | poaseeshet mussel Diced by Scat Derncison, asqucnceinihich the US amy condone A seis of 3D igi the film isa reworking ofthe Attacks a giant robot with feo matte paintings were also erated ‘drome (Reaper) sircrat They The final effects in the sequence fly through New York, firing involve a Reaper cashing into a rises athe abot which taleon the ound, Aside fom a stands in Cental Park sreenscreen soldier, the entire shot The Reapers were is digital. As the Reaper impacts constructed by Cinesit's tm the CG MIAL tank, @destiction aaa = of modellers and textured simulation system was generated Beas designed ne tes fo ers using photographie reference to break the CG tank t pes Uenihing Views i rien rene supplicd by VEX supervisor The explosion was augmented by J Ply Deon tebe fonovs ves Jim Rygiel. A Full aeadynamic 2D smoke, flashes, firs and debris] Beflwe ey sane oeve Mone flight surface rig was passes, which clear to veal a feed Wt Eiecs to eontne dco | implemented, complete with damaged MAL, witha custom | footage fenginglendscopes ith SD heat have and wing Hp ‘damage’ texture map. ‘erinoted owing based on Dears ‘wu blvepp.covk contri effects passes. inet ews Digitales 07Lightroom gets Row updote Abe hes eased on update Frits protessinal photogaphy aptaton, Utoom adding Row apart seven from cana. ashe ee upon or (anor £0550 Mark and PourrStat C0, Porasnee ONC CONC P80 OM Wyld Stallyons promo The Blizzards | =sesconore Atesgned to prone users wie an cesy Animated promo for The Blizzard's new single sees a giant attock o cartoon city, Stating ple when sing Rau. Directing studio Wyle Stallyons has created 1 fully animated promo for rsh indie group The Blizzards’ new single The Reason In the promo, a eartoon city is terrorized by a heartbroken St female; while most citizens and the army rash to protect the city, one characte falls love and bales to save her The promo pons monster in-thecty movies such as Chowefeld, Ghostbusters sind King Kong. We caught up ‘with Wyld Stallyons directors Jason Arber and Chris Sayer to talk about making the promo, ‘The brief was pretty open brocause the timescale 08 50 tight” says Arber. “The song lyrics are all about unrequited Jove and rection and, because 08 Digialiets news wwe love movies lke Gadel it scemed to make a warped kind ‘of sanse thatthe hero athe video ‘wow fallin love with giant ‘waa tht everyone thinks is attacking the city.” ‘As the action takes place in acy the duo realized that 93D) solution was the ideal route, using Adobe After Effects to handle the character animation as well asthe 3D elements. “The secret stce wae creating ining 3D world that our 20 characters might live i.” says Sayer “That came down to refining the design of bot the city and the poople who live init The solution was to make a very Angular world, where even the ‘ocean is made of exare polygons, bat people it with characters wha ‘ans roe. On the face oft sucha concep sounds He it should’ work, but it docs Th team used Adobe lystrator to create the characters then exported them to Adobe Photoshop aslayers and animated ther in Aer Est ‘The environment was bulk sng Maso Cinema 4D. “Our biggest challenge was simply oncortime. Ourstorrhad_ | Portraiture 2 in the frome anepicquaty 101 with cies, | item tereseaead Penman people, a giant woman, ie, tn va os lino Peto. rms fghterjsandso, and | Te gas eaturesan yet oan werwaly didnt want to shore FEATURE Digitalis 023¥ — > RETOUCHING TECHNIQUES Lees eee Poomrernete rr tne ns oa cr Pera ee cee roe ree een Sn cer here Boe ese! PRropucts In product retouching, sys Glenn Feron the eee reed Chee ett rom ratTeis era ee ey Pn nee eet Poe cited ea atts Eee tenn ar Cay Sn eects eee) Coen eee ete) Pcs eee Domne cies utr omen tren eer Pere) Pec eee Sey Ce onto eet) oe een ene Se eee ae Lenny oe eee eee Erie ete oe Pierce) Pome eg rs Cae ee er eee Reems mec reh cron) rece nee ere) Rr ce a oy Porn Rede eC rete oreaencl sy Cement cay Pern a eet Pore es Ronee et ced eee nates te cig re rrr oy ‘and edges” says Kiger. "You selec the area Ree ol eee ene ae erg Petr te ater eerie ats Speen nie Pe acount rd ener ete a eee eect terran eT! ET Weichert) on aoa eee Cn etd al Cee ee eee reel at Seer es fees ec eee ores is Poe Sere reer skin oreas” explains Feron "The Dodge ond eee eee ee ret shadouss, to help counter the effect of shiny, prs He odds: "Using a Wacom pen and tablet eee at those tls. No one shouldbe without, as the rer are eenite ty Cette eta ema errs FEATURE Digital - wePHOTO RETOUCHING STEP BY STEP By David Kliger, www.davidkliger.com Ce ee I eur Pon eer ne cis Puneet Ae eae eee eneteey clipping paths each have thelr own unique world of Pe rea eters ere eee eta erences Dec ieee for creating a softmask fora figure with a soft edge nee aires eee oo [Rs background and placed on a new background. Before we begin: How to hold ‘our digital brush Thin th to seamless skin retouching isthe ability to hold the Waco ih as light a touch a possible Here, [se grip barely lig ‘Snough to hold the pen any Tighter and it would fll out of ny hands (Our frst hai mask ound the tablet with my'arm so Here, wel use our channels to help acess the light ouch when need it. us crate a mask for oar model's hair Ibe sng this touch that builds contrat whi _ made the mask invisible and its varying this soft edge with our word editing too i thesteps Tu nd techniques, Here an ‘expression from the tools [can control My technique has four oveal step ‘withthe Wacom pen without bothering * Image > Calculations to change brush settings, we can go rom + Image > Adjustments > Levels the faintest to the most dense mark + Burn & Dodge Test and Tweak A simple layer mask: ‘white reveals lack conceals, 1 Image > Calculations. get ws started with the basic co Review cach channel inthe Channels ‘ofsoftmarks, we'll start with the most palette, Click once on the Red channel basic lnyer mask Notice it looks ike « black-and-white 1. With our example file, double-tick As this image is saved in RGB fn the Backgr nd layer. Hit return 5 ro by mixing shades mand Due, Hew inthe Red channel, wherever 2. Choose Layer> Layer Mask > Reveal AL, You have now erated your First Layer Mack. Congratulati Repeat ate White is white will lloe the im ther is black, no red alowed in the through than darker h hades of gre " Asan experiment with black Anywhere that ieblack will hide the somesshere in the Red channel then image, Shades of grey will ghost th click om the RGB channel to notice th imag resalts We crested 9 cyan brash mark, reas complement, Press Cmd/Ctel + To test this out let's choose as fo undo outlte test, brush too that wil allow us to comtrol pen pressure. Mak its opacity with sure Blac nour Layers palette click once en and blu for each pixel in ou imag the iam forthe layer mask soi bocom As we want to make a stm Highlighted witha thicker edge her ala great place to begin i by th block, viewing the thas softmasks we already have and evaluating which ome is closest to what we want to crea We're looking fora sehite ba 4, AlUOpE + click on o wean look att dl Iy inetad of just and black halr, or vice-versa. Looking (026 Digitalirts FERTURE ch channel indivicaly Red channel comes closest blonde hair ' alelations | wr oftmask by combining twa channel ources with a blend mod st Red as ctr chan fr both ha tag.J a learned this s ou best starting pol ‘Select Multiply as our ble Next toggle the preview cheek box off and then on to so we dan’ thave to help Photoshop give us our image preview inetantly Feel free to experiment by choosing, notice the diferent result. Then make it Red again and hi eter to create new alpha channel with great Red and then Green for Source nd the background, 2. Image > Adjustments > Levels. Got the Channels patett and click fom our neve alpha channel, Zoonvin toma detail of her hair tus an enlaged representative sample {Choose lmage > Adjustments > Levels. Well use this dialog box to make het hair mone black andthe back more white. The trick is darken the hairs while making the background! white at che same time Slowly move the grey triangle to the right toward the white triangle while paying close attention to he ha the background, We want her hairs to got darker. Als, wwe want the background to remain near ‘white and not il with black, a this will Force us to recreate our mask We quickly notice that moving the lider too far pluge the background. Pall back toward the lef until the results are enhanced as much as this tool will allow Move the white slider to the right to make the background cl without letting your hairs fade to white ‘You might need to readjust the relationship between the grey and whit faint reak up and Soctground eg cop hai Final ve mi ard height a make date ey fmisblac, Dortorevoror ours ff black slider Then select ou alpha channel again turn our pat into a selection and Click on RGB to view the whole Crirone ne itvwith black Next ell se the Burn and Dodge tools 6 finish off our mask, Notice we can see the background ‘ith er haits and a nesr-chite through her hai arn the edge background, we use Burn and Dodge to ‘Using the Pen tool, make a simple make the backgrond pure white vile outtne within her head being cael reining crisp yaa not to inchide any ofthese background reas 3: Burm & Dodge ‘Choose the Burh tool. Set Range to Shadows, Exposure to 100%. We'l give jurslves a nice, big, soft brash, Got the Brushes polette and ensure Expose iscontelled by pon pressure. {Using avery light touch, drag the ‘burn Tool over her haie being very alto darken her hair ethout plugging the background, We work our way around her head Drag over the same aoa several times ae needed As with the levels tool, be careful not to overdo it Use Edit> Undo or the History palette to step back if you go ‘sal using the Burn tool, we make four brush size smaller and continue > Fat sned bpm ger ag cory fll Mage. enn s aslightly dragging over the hairs that need more separation. Agtin, be careful not to plug the background. We continue with this process tntil Wie thn pea Ue same process with the Dodge tool with Range sto Highligh, Exponur ett 100%, abi soft brush with Exposure controled by Pel dag over er hat: This tn we ate making the back ‘hl bing carta nt fs After our large brush gives u dliminishing returns, make the b Size smaller and continue iv Once we have a white hal a dark head, we again use the F to make a simple oatine within ‘White halo andl around the Inverse fr the background and fil our selection with whit The rest of the Figure hos 0 we complete our mask withthe Pen took, Outline the figure and save it with the name ‘Silo Turn our new Sito path into csletion and use it il te interior of o figure within oar alpha channel wth and the background with white At this quality level of out mask is about 95%, We need to testi bofore a new background finishes it With our neve mak highlighted seclick om the dotted cece atthe bottom ofthe Channels palette totam itinto a selection. We then go t0 fate the ers palette. dragging ton the page icon atthe boo of the Layers pate Click on the Add Layer Mask icon atthe bottom ofthe Layers palette 4: Test and tweak he extent of adjustments we need to perform to our mask depends upon the background bohind the figure grey below our figure aye try different eolours and to the diferenc fers are tome typical adjustonts we can pefonn ko perk our maak in relation to out chosen background, “Zoom in on out hat mask. Invariably thors will be specks of the ol background shoving though and bompy troight the Burn background spec mask. Here, use alow expostre setting ‘oF round 30% for greater contol and ‘alieacy. Be careful not to overtighten Alter cleaning up the 5 iredges that should be Togs ik and the origina image, Notice the difference between the original's hair edge and the mask’s ‘Ment likely the mask will be Make it ep with our one by brushing in alr invand: cout along the edge ‘Complete broken hairs with the brush tool. Use one piss a fairly hard and Fow fitter controlled by per Use the Bhar tool delicately with a small brush to create smooth ansions between light and dark afong the edge sel not t allow your mo mush Fade the flyaways with a big. sof brush using the colour black ard an[choose to integrate her with an iey — background and place an icy texture ‘bchind her. Next integrate the image by adding blue and green to icy ear coverings correcting her haie toward blue, placing an icy texture layer abowe iy erating a Selective layer choosing Blacs and adding 39% low With this technique we ean selec any soft-eige shape from any background, and integrate it with ary new “vironment of our choosing. Welcome to your new world oftmasking. ofBOOST YOUR ONLINE PORTFOLIO Your website is the first place people will look when they're sizing you up for commussions — so it’s crucial to get it right. NOTING HAE NorHincawv (030 Dighaltrts FERTURE Wa new year and time to look again | athow you present yourself to existing al clients Whatever your yout website is the ietrators and fasts for thoxe cor roadeast, the first poreot «commission or employ cura represen what you're lls you to your cient base ~ ot impressed by your online presence, they went bother t fo request your print portfolio. Here are the key points to cons Yourself or commiscloninga third party to rete it for you. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE yourself = this wil inform all arees of your ‘website, Do yout have abroad client base that ‘working on or are you primarily looking to attract new cients? Chane ‘is bath so you'll need bath Impresivelooking front-en the totter. you offer ~ not asta portal of your work Even if your wrk is chaotic in ste, ensure that the look of your site communicates your pprfessionaism ~and don’t be afraid to Blow umpet a ite You also nee to work within the imitations ‘of potential client’ browser and Internet connections, We're long past the days sehen fverything online had tobe tipped dover because of dial-up connections ad even most corporate computers have Flash and QuickTime eatil neds to load in your potential cien’s Office online at once You should also remember that some users are stil on 1,024-«-768eresoution screens, and ensure your site looks good when viewed onKEEP IT SIMPLE Your site's navigation should be as clear = posible. Break down your site ino clear sections ~ such a5 News, Portfolio’ ‘About find Contact ~and mun these along the top of tide of your ste, The pontfoio pat of your ete should be farther broken clam i you offer such as “Geaphie Design ilustation’, and s0 0. Kesit the temptation to as visitors to ‘explore your ste to shove how creative you ate. They're probably in a hurry to whittle down many potential candidates for «projet and te may be one of many browser tabs open at once and i they can't quickly find ‘what they looking for they won't spend the time tacking it down, STYLE AND SUBSTANCE ‘Creating the best online portfolio will often require a Balance between aesthetic appa, ‘ease of updating time and money. In general the more intricate a site fy, the more dificult itis to update, Conversely emily updatable sites often rely on tomplate-driven approaches, such as blogging engines. Unless you've got the funds to buy (or technical expertise to create) a fall content mangement system the best approach i 40 include both portfolio and news reason your site, Your formal portfolio should ave a design that is stylish, well lid out and prividesan overview ofthe bes ff what you've created ver the last few Years It doesn’t need t0 be ordered by date, but should posh the work that will sel you best Firs. It should be updated atleast every three month The neve’ area is essentially a blog, yout have a quick way to post info and graphics About your latest projects. Tis could be a link toa fe biog hosted om a site stich as Google's Blogger sit Jor one that’s hosted alongside your site using an engine such 25 Wordpress (a at The first approach isthe cheapest, but the blog exists separate to your website, and there are restrictions on layout and image quality The second will have a moderate hosting cost nd takes longer to “but offers more customization and can be better integrated so that ie appears tobe part of your website Being 0g to subseribe to your news using its builtin RSS fed, 0 that users who have readers such as Google Reader and those built into most web browsers and email aplication: will be instantiy notified abot your next projec Set yourself targets regarding how often you will update the main and news Yous site, and stick o them WHAT SHOULD | HOST? As you'r not constrained online bythe size ‘ofa physical portfolio many creatives wont to postal hair work online to maximize the chance that something you've done will match ‘what 3 visto looking for, However, visitors will probably lok only at the fis ter or 80 ‘works they're presented with, se concentrate ‘on getting on pices online, Avoid ‘works that are more than four years old ~ Uns they're multiple ttherwise very notable Tncliding personel work is @ great way to shove new directions or styles tha youd Tike to offer to cients, o flesh out small ‘commercial portfolio i you're just starting out Howver, be eaefl only to include work that you'd he happy for all of your potential clits Te sce. And only post work in stytes that you'd warc-cinners oF The more intricate a site is, the more difficult it is to update bbe happy to work in again, in case someone wants an exact recreation of them, AVOID THE CREDIBILITY CRUNCH Community portfolio sites such as Behance and Deviant At are appealing a they offer a ‘ery quick way to erete and update a selection fone among many, To define your own brand and get potential clients to take y ru also need a site of your own of your work, but on thove sites you're t seriou, eventhough cy to create id ignore community portfolio. 1y/r a ghd way tb get Your work noticed ~ but you should use them to drive peuple to your main site where they wont be tistracted by other creatives’ work. ‘ean cost time and tm: You sho gine also lets vistors FEATURE DigitalAres 031EXPLAIN YOURSELF ‘You may be a visual creative, but your clients are likely tobe business professionals. Remember to put your posted images or videos in context Inthe’ Nows part of your ste yo. should inelude information about the cient and how your work will appear. Inthe ‘Portolle” part, you should turn each project into a case study ~ detailing in text the bret yout were given, how you Fulfiled it and what “loments you created, Each project should deta the sills that you have and how they can be exploited by potential patrons, GIVE IT AWAY NOW Potuntal eins have short memories, so give isitors a permanent reminder of your site by offering free downloads rated 19 your work Ilustrators, photographers ana digital artists should effer desktop and mobile phone _svallpapers tora range of screen sizes, Web ‘and interactive designers should include ‘downloadable games and gadgets, Fun short films area memorable approach for those ‘working with video and animation. Ensure ‘these sre anilable in Pod format (MV) tomaximize the chance they let Tt should go without saying, but i forgotten in the rush to get a piece online sake sure you ince your name and website fom all giveaways thea oft FROM ONLINE TO OFFLINE FEE Some visitors will bein a hurry ooking at hundreds of portolio sites and not have ime to view your site in depth. Offer a quick way for them to dovnload 3 high-res PDF of your portfolio or QuickTime of your showrecl oF fo roquest a printed copy or DVD, SINGLE SITES ARE EASIER “The web gives you the possibility of creating multiple portilio. I yous work in several distinct markets, you could create diferen portfolios with different URLs that present ach anes of your work However this gives you more than ane website to maintain = which can bea burden inthe long ran so ness you have to keep the areas separate to prevent stalty conporate clients fom sesing your more experimental ‘work (or vice versa) is best to ost these different areas within a single overarching site DO IT YouRSELF? ‘The question of whether to create a site yourself ‘or get a third pany to design it for you should be based on your skills and budget Creating, and maintaining your own site isa good way far even print creatives to save money ~ and ‘as you have the design sllly you need only to lear the technical side FLASH IN THE PAN Not long ago, Flash sites were popular with creative pros as theyre more visually appealing, ema own than HTML site, Currently though, we've seen Spesemtnnonsr ape mncrarnw sestansss’ many ofthese replaced with simpler HTML (Peet oso fers er a a sites, Tis is because HTML sites ane quicker land cheaper to crete and maintain, and can (032 Dighabtrts FERTURE Pe ema Peery arin en ae peer are Se nee heen eer erty erecta terion Reon pear reaper arene nr reer omnes Peasant taee Eat eee es icone rerers Peer eet Peceeea tense eon] pect epee ee ried be ere a een a Perea marieoriee nn tse ers eet ects be a lor sicker than they used tm be thrssgh the use of CSS and ATAX cade. HTML sites are also easier for search engines to naviga 50 potential clients will ind them more easily “The exception here is for Flash designers, ‘eho ofcourse shot create thei site inthe rest that they speci USE YOUR SITE TO MARKET YOURSELF (Consider updating site visitors with an email nevesleter. Your newsletter should include only 2 small amount of information about each project and one oto Tange graphics to keep the filesize down. These are many katoriols ‘online on how to create HTML newsletters. To begin, you can manage your newsletter from within your email application, but as the Hist grows, you should use tools sich as Maviman (nen orlsoftaaelnailan) oF PoMMo (waa:pomno.org). You web host may offer a newsletter service too. iow ten you publish your newsletter depends on hav often you have something to rout abut. Once every to months isa good Start and isan easy schedule to stick to— though larger studios with multiple concurrent projets may seant to mall more often, ‘Remember to include an Unsubscribe’ link and dont ase the email ist for any marketing ‘except what poople have signed up for For more on what you can and can't do, seth Data Protection Act (a tnyur cfs TEST, TEST AND TEST AGAIN Your work may be perfect but if your site doesn appear corectly then clients may discount you. Check that your site appears correctly in lntemnet Explorer Firefox and Safar ‘on Mac and Windows (and in Opera and on Lina if your clients include techie types), For a view of how your ste looks across the widest range of browsers, use the Browsershots test engine (ant roxeerhotsayg), which renders images of how your site looks across 79 browser Opus versions, and screen sizes___ lee -e moa MELT LO » Ow eYeew ere RT Ie » More Productive Digital Nature » More Dependable Vue 7 offers professional CG artists a complete toolset for creating and rendering exceptionally rich and realistic natural environim With Vue 7 access all the power of beautifully detailed ing your application's TL as)The Black Panthers’ official artist and ‘minister of culture’ explains his provocative images to Digital Arts. Not many artists’ eork can justifiably be described as iconic Emory Doulas is one of those ‘Sonoran a eteen 1967 andthe ed the fepctem nate’ Yo Douglas the ofc art oF SSrmetrmaeey tc US bck activist group the Black Panther Party and the art director of the ‘onganizatin’s mouthpiece, the weekly paper The Blac Panther. For 13 years he fruted the images and visual aesthetic that defined the Black Panthers, documenting poverty and urging black Americans to resist police oppression “by violent means if necessary ‘Douglas’ proudly revolutionary images took up the whole back page tof almost every isuc of the paper ever printed. They were crucial in planting the movements aims inthe Imaginations ofthe Bla key audience — deprived communities where many people were illiterate er Semiliterat. Because ofthis, his artworks had a political weight that (034 DigabirtsinsicHT fev graphic designers today could even stream 0 today Alot of people used to say they'd buy the paper just forthe artwork itself” says Douglas now. “And there ‘were times shen people would say they'd buy the paperand they could tel hich way the party's polities were heading at that time because it was reflected in the artwork Twenty years Inter, Douglas’ posters are among the defining images of the Black Panther movement: bol, strident and somehow larger than the pages they're printed on, the posters express dafianct revolution and solidarity th every pert They depict African-American subjects in warlike poses ~often ‘ripping weapons or chronicle the tects of poverty on children and families, Others show the police and politicians as venal and corrupt. ete ‘opting thea as pigs or rats Slogans surge people to take up arms police, orto aim for slfleteminatio While the posters include everything from thick line drawings that recall African teatile patterns to collages of Photos cut from nevespapers and hand: {raven clement, thet look is ody consistent. Most ofthe time the paper Was printed only in Black and white sionally venturing nto two oF even ee colours fr key’editions- but the mages are striking nonetheless Basically we didn’ thave a lot of amaterials or technical equipment — that’s how the creative part comes in,” explains Douglas. "We didn't have a newspaper press but we built oar own small mulilith press and we used to print posters and booklets and those Kind of things. For the at itself, Lused a lot of prefabricated materials letter sheets Bnd st like that to make the textures pattems ofthe line drawings he continues. Teas av look low-tech, only that, it bs chapters and b grassroots kind of ‘sys Douglas. “And not sca look that other ches ofthe BlackPanther Party had to take on, and they also al local artists who came toalso do the same things Twas doing ea leader” Te wasn’t always obvious to Douglas that he'd become a figurehead, 2 leader ‘ofa movement. Asa youth he 305 Blsvays drawing but was also often in trouble with the police, He eventually ‘wound up in juvenile detention in San Francisco, where a supervisor ssrggested that he ty his hand at art ina training college Soe trained in commercial ar, including silk screening and display art, he helped out around San Francisco State University. "used toda jobs for the diferent departments that needed sign letterings, doing technical istratione and things ike that” ‘San Francisco in the late 1960s was 2 turbulent place, with radical politics and antVietnam War protests ‘Heocheting from the walls, particuaely at hotspots like the San Francisco State University, and Douglas was drawn to black activism ‘One day; Douglas was asked by a stadt” actiist group fo create 3 bi poster for an event where Betty Shabu, Malcolm X's widow, would be speaking, “The Black student's union had organized forthe Black Panthers to provide security forthe event = and the roup’s founders, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, showed up. “Aer the mecting went out and expressed my inforst in joining, and Fitey Newton and Bobby both gave me their phone numbers. So I started hanging out vith them, [went out jbserving the patrols and stat By 1967, the Black Panther leadership had decided that the movement needed an official mouthpiece, anit founded The Black Paher pape. By is second issue, Emory Douglas ~then ust 22 ars old ~ became itsart director and remained so unt the paper folded “anon 1979" Tok pride in the layout and design, and the challenge of improving the format ofthe paper" he says. "But mone than anything, if there was one thing enjoyed, it was doing the artwork the posters Although he also became the Black Panthers’ Minister of Culture, creating these posters vas sil the most important part of Douglas jo. “The artworks, which were published in the paper each week, reflected ‘whaterer politcal isscs the Panthers ‘were involved in atthe time He says: "We were opposed to the war in Vietnam, we were dealing with housing and unemployment, health ines. At any given time it could have been dealing with young African American men being murdered an Dnitalized, so ie covensd many Issues.” ‘At the time, the poster was a major space for politcal statements, giving Douglas plenty of places to draw inspiration fom, ‘We had a fot of political art coming ‘out of Vietnam, work that came out of (Calba, the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Avi, Afria and Latin ‘America, an they used to publish alot ‘of posters In support of appressed, Struggling and revolutionary peoples around the world” he says "$0 I was inspired by a lot ofthe wonderful work. And also there was 2 Totof work done here within the US itself that activists were working on. But most off came out of Cubs, Vietnam and the Chinese artwork that was big atthe time.” He also drew on techniques from INSIGHT Digitalis 035