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  • 5 Amazing Sites With Quality Stock Images
    Photography

    5 Amazing Sites With Quality Stock Images

    Mercedes Valgañón shares her favorite websites for downloading free stock images Pinterest is one of the best social media platforms for visual content. If you want to use it to boost sales–using the tools offered to those with Pinterest business accounts–you will need to find strong images that stand out from the sea of visual content and attract potential customers. To help you find the best photographs (that are also free!) for your art and design projects, graphic designer, illustrator, and community manager Mercedes Valgañón (@heymercedes)–who is also an expert in promoting brands and boosting sales using Pinterest–shares a list of her favorite websites offering free stock images. 1. Unsplash Founded in 2013 as a small Tumblr blog, Unsplash is a website offering free image downloads, which has also become one of the most important visual communities in its industry. A source of inspiration for thousands of designers and artists from around the world, it allows you to download high-quality stock images for free in exchange for crediting the author when you use them.

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  • How to Create a Pencil-effect Brush for Sketching in Photoshop
    Illustration

    How to Create a Pencil-effect Brush for Sketching in Photoshop

    We explain, step-by-step, how to create a graphite pencil brush for sketching in Adobe Photoshop Sketching is an essential part of the design process. Transferring your first idea to paper enables you to get a first glimpse of what will become the final work; make changes; and remove and redo parts of your design, illustration, artwork, or architecture plan. Every creative process related to drawing includes this essential step. With digital production booming, paper is almost becoming redundant, which is why professionals such as Mercedes deBellard (@mercedes_debellard) create ways to work in Photoshop using traditional processes. Mercedes is an illustrator with a passion for colored pencils who has developed a technique for creating digital textures that mimic traditional pencils. Here she explains how to create a brush in Photoshop that mimics the texture of a graphite pencil so that you can use it to sketch digitally:

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  • Free Download: Pencil Package to Illustrate Your Next Photoshop Portrait
    Illustration

    Free Download: Pencil Package to Illustrate Your Next Photoshop Portrait

    Illustrator Oscar Giménez shares a set of pencils with the Domestika community that will improve your Photoshop portraits considerably With 13 years of experience in illustration, Oscar Giménez (@oscargimenez) is passionate about music and the world of graphics; he combines these areas in his work, playing with different elements so that each of his pieces stand out. In recent years, he has specialized in portraiture in his personal project for concert illustrations compiled in the book Sold Out. He also often contributes to Yorokobu Magazine’s biweekly 'Rock n' Draw’ section in which he creates music-inspired portraits. He takes the essence of his characters from photos and other references and then transforms them into something totally different. His talent has secured him clients like Adobe, Playboy, Universal Music, Rolling Stone and Audi, and he has done everything from press pictures, TV and advertising, to murals, book and album covers, and posters.

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  • How to Illustrate a Great Children’s Book Character
    Illustration

    How to Illustrate a Great Children’s Book Character

    A few concepts that will help you create fascinating characters for children’s books Children are one of the most demanding audiences that exist. Dedicating your life to children’s illustration requires a mix of absolute passion and drawing know-how that will allow you to illustrate the stories that thousands of children will grow up with the way they deserve. But what are the most important concepts to consider when designing a character for a children's book? Teresa Martínez (@teresa_mtz), an illustrator specializing in children's and youth publications, shares her professional advice which will help you build attractive and charismatic characters aimed at children's audiences.

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  • How the ‘Joker’ Logo Was Made
    Design

    How the ‘Joker’ Logo Was Made

    Discover the analog process behind the logo and initial titles of the film everyone has been talking about With more than 700 million dollars raised worldwide, and a critical reception that has tilted heavily towards positive, there is no doubt that 'Joker', the biopic of the famous Batman villain–starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Phillips–was one of the most important titles of 2019. A successful film is, almost always, the result of tens or hundreds of artists' work, creatives who give the most in their particular areas of knowledge: from direction to photography, from production design to hairdressing and costumes, 'Joker' is a particularly rich film from a creative standpoint, and this also shows in its logo. It's a logo that evokes the analog and tangible spirit of the film, and that, surprisingly, was not created digitally but using old techniques: with blocks of wood loaded with ink. A powerful creative decision whose author, designer and animator Chad Danieley, has explained in detail on a reddit post.

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  • The Creative Process: from Briefing to Budget
    Marketing

    The Creative Process: from Briefing to Budget

    Discover how to organize a creative proposal when working with clients, from the first handshake to closing the budget One of the main factors that impacts the profitability of creative companies is the process that starts with the first briefing for a project and ends with the final budget: How long should it be? How many people should be involved? Answering these and other questions correctly could be the difference between a company that thrives and one that goes bust. So, with the help of Enrique Rivera (@kike_dnoise), CEO and Creative Director of dnoise, we have created this step-by-step guide that will help you understand the importance of each phase, and how to calibrate this process that is the beating heart of countless creative studios.

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  • Domestika Talks: Gary Baseman
    Design

    Domestika Talks: Gary Baseman

    Learn how to look for inspiration in this talk given by the popular artist and designer, Gary Baseman The illustrator, animator, and toy designer captivated the audience with his talk at Copa Domestika in Colombia last September, telling a passionate story about how his best friend—a cat—became a never-ending source of inspiration. Watch his talk below:

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  • Top 5 Photo Editing Apps for Instagram
    Photography

    Top 5 Photo Editing Apps for Instagram

    Get to know these five apps that will make your Instagram posts pop A few days ago, we shared 5 apps for recording and editing videos on your phone, now it's time for photos. Whether you want to improve your Instagram content, get into professional photography with your smartphone camera or just improve your digital photo album, these apps will help you capture and edit incredible photos. Ortho - Perspective Camera Imagine finding yourself walking through the street as the sun sets. You get your smartphone and aim up to take a photo of the horizon but you can’t find a good angle. The vertical lines seem to converge, the upper parts of buildings are cropped. It’s chaos. This app corrects your perspective automatically, in real time. It also lets you add a grid to help with composition, choose from multiple aspect ratios, and use angle, level, and histogram displays.

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  • What Is A Brand Identity Manual And What Should It Include?
    Design

    What Is A Brand Identity Manual And What Should It Include?

    Learn the importance of the identity manual and the differences between brand book, identity guidelines and brand guidelines The design of a brand identity is not static, it is not enough to create it once and forget about how it might be used in the future. Brands and businesses are constantly making new content that needs to be fit under the same line and criteria as what went before it. This is where the importance of having an identity manual lies. They serve as a reference for the basic rules on the correct use of the company's image.

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  • 10 Tips for Generating Successful Digital Content in a Saturated Market
    Marketing

    10 Tips for Generating Successful Digital Content in a Saturated Market

    These tips will help your content stand out among the myriad of options the internet offers Given how saturated the market for content is, it is complicated–although not impossible–to stand out on social networks. Lucas García (@lucasgarcia) is a specialist in this field. Director and founder of Social Mood agency, he is an expert in communication and branding and helps brands connect with their audiences through digital content. Under the magnifying glass of traditional marketing skepticism and with the clear objective of capturing the attention of users, Lucas shares with Domestika some key tips to create content and stand out from the crowd.

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  • 10 Incredible Illustrated Children’s Books for Kids and Adults
    Illustration

    10 Incredible Illustrated Children’s Books for Kids and Adults

    Among the classics of children’s literature, there are those titles that stand out for their illustrations Inspiration can be found anywhere but books are no doubt one of our greatest creative resources. That’s why we recently asked our Instagram followers to tell us their favorite children’s books. The response, as expected, was varied. Here is what we concluded were the top ten must-read books for any lover of illustration and stories. Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), a book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a pilot, creator, author and illustrator of one of the books that has captivated the most readers the length and breadth of the world. A story considered by many a children’s book but the background of which is a critique of adulthood through the meaning of life, loneliness, friendship, love and loss. In 1968, the Morgan Library in New York acquired the original manuscripts and drawings, over 30,000 words, original watercolors and coffee-stained sketches with cigarette burns through them.

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  • Tips for your Commercial Documentary Photos
    Photography

    Tips for your Commercial Documentary Photos

    Discover how to adjust your expectations to reality when creating a documentary image bank with these tips. Outdoor documentary photography assignments have two characteristics that might seem opposite: they mean working for a client, with established budgets and deadlines, and at the same time they are subject to the variability of outdoor photography. So, with a lot of headwinds, we must work effectively and practically. CONTRA, a photographic and audiovisual producer specializing in the creation of documentary image banks, shares his essential tips for being well prepared when dealing with these types of commissions, which have differential characteristics with respect to other photographic works.

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  • The UX Trends to Look Out for in 2020
    Design

    The UX Trends to Look Out for in 2020

    UX expert Strike Heredia predicts what to expect from user experience design in 2020 UX design refers to user experience design—an essential part of building a successful website, app, or digital software. It takes into account patterns of design and usability, the rules of interaction design, visual hierarchy, layout, and text. Carlos "Strike" Heredia is a graphic designer and UX expert with years of experience working in design, creativity and strategy for different brands. Here, Heredia walks us through what to expect from UX design in 2020. Heredia says, “At this time of year, like clockwork, people begin to predict trends for the coming year across different sectors and industries. It’s the same in UX design (despite the fact we always say to never “presume” anything, and it therefore seems rather ironic to be making predictions). What we can do is review what trends have marked 2019 and look set to peak in 2020.” 1. Chatbots and virtual assistants A rule of thumb is to always put the user first: make processes easier and resolve any problems that could arise. This approach has resulted in chatbots and virtual assistants becoming a key feature in human-machine interaction. From resolving straightforward FAQs to more complex artificial intelligence, chatbots and virtual assistants create a more comfortable experience for the user and this is why they will continue to evolve in 2020.

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  • 4 Tips on How to Choose the Perfect Profile Picture for Your Portfolio
    Marketing

    4 Tips on How to Choose the Perfect Profile Picture for Your Portfolio

    Martina Flor shares her advice on what every creative should bear in mind when designing their personal page How many times have you doubted over the picture you chose for your portfolio? Photography is a key element when you’re sharing your work and looking for new clients: it’s part of your calling card and says a lot about you and the image you want to transmit. Martina Flor, designer and specialist in lettering, –who teaches the Domestika course Freelance: Keys and Tools to Find Success as your Own Boss– will help you choose your perfect shot with these helpful tips.

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  • Logotype, Isotype, Imagotype, Isologotype, Symbol: Do You Know The Difference?
    Design

    Logotype, Isotype, Imagotype, Isologotype, Symbol: Do You Know The Difference?

    Learn the right terminology for each element of branding and a brand’s visual identity by name In general, people tend to define “logotype” as a brand’s entire identity. It’s normal and logical. This way a client can understand a proposal more clearly and simplifying the terminology can make sure your site appears higher in search engines. However, the great diversity of terms and definitions can cause some serious confusion, especially when words might appear to be synonyms but really they’re not. Logotype, isotype, imagotype, isologotype… although they’re from the same family of terms used in the design of corporate imagery and identity for brands, businesses, and products, each word refers to something different. When working, knowing what each word means is crucial for communication and understanding. Although you might not always use them, understanding them will make you more efficient when it comes to the design.

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  • Illustration Tutorial: How to Tackle the Blank Page
    Teacher Illustration

    Illustration Tutorial: How to Tackle the Blank Page

    Adolfo Serra shares three drawing exercises that will get your pencil moving and help you to overcome a creative block Illustrator Adolfo Serra (@adolfoserra) insists that you should never obsess over what the final image will look like and, instead, keep trying until you achieve something that feels fresh. Here he shares three ways to unleash your creativity when you’re experiencing a creative block, let your pencil and mind soar free, and create something special.

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  • How to Present Your Craft Projects in a Portfolio and on Social Media
    Craft

    How to Present Your Craft Projects in a Portfolio and on Social Media

    When it comes to creative professions, especially in the world of crafts, the creator can be responsible for multiple parts of the process Those who work in embroidery, ceramics, or textile art often oversee every stage of a project’s development, as well as handling marketing and building a global image for their brand. This is why it’s so important to stay up-to-date with new tips and tools that will help with all of the extras, such as knowing how to best present your work in a portfolio or on social media. Here, ceramic artist Paula Casella (@paulacasellabiase) and textile artist María La Biyux (@marialabiyux) share some of their top tips on how to get the most out of sharing your craft work online.

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  • Embroidery Tutorial: Simple Flowers in 5 Steps
    Teacher Craft

    Embroidery Tutorial: Simple Flowers in 5 Steps

    Five simple steps to embroider flowers with Señorita Lylo, from design to the final stitch Loly Ghirardi AKA Señorita Lylo (@srtalylo) managed to unite her two passions years ago: graphic design and embroidery. She now threads between two styles: working with hoops and needles, and making unique designs. She loves to experiment and give all her projects a personal touch. This tutorial encapsulates what her craft is about. Discover Señorita Lylo’s 5 steps to embroider a flower.

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  • Domestika Creatives: Jordi Labanda
    Illustration

    Domestika Creatives: Jordi Labanda

    The renowned illustrator opens the doors to his studio to talk to us about his universe and creative process His first job in Spain was for the newspaper La Vanguardia was "a dream come true". The paper was iconic to him, a place where great illustrators lined its pages. This collaboration started in 1994 and continues to this day in the paper’s Sunday supplement. Its beginning was a pivotal moment in Jordi’s career. From then on, his characters began to form part of the collective imagination, establishing the Jordi Labanda universe. After a professional career of 25 years, Jordi Labanda (Uruguay, 1968) defines himself as an artist by commission. He currently works with publications like Vogue Japan and Harper’s Bazaar and his illustrations have covered magazines like Vogue USA and The New York Times. He has also collaborated with huge companies such as Louis Vuitton and Tommy Hilfiger, to name a few. Sat in his studio, Jordi explains his trajectory, his working methods, his characters and the key to being a good illustrator.

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  • 10 Tips for Launching a Creative Podcast
    Music & Audio

    10 Tips for Launching a Creative Podcast

    Expand your audience and reach your community in a more intimate way with well-produced audio shows A podcast can be a fantastic way to expand the potential audience for your work or to explore topics that you are passionate about with other creatives and friends. Creating one is easy, and there are hundreds of apps that will help you do it. However, with almost a million podcasts available today, getting the potential audience to find yours can be hard. These 10 tips will help you create one that stands out from the very first episode.

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  • The Free Universal Measurements Guide We All Need
    Design

    The Free Universal Measurements Guide We All Need

    Dimensions.Guide is a platform that can make life easier for designers and architects Searching for information about the official dimensions and size of objects, vehicles, animals, even our cell phones, can be a very frustrating task, especially when time isn't on our side. To make it easier, Dimensions.Guide has been created, a free reference database with drawings that document the standard measurements and sizes of everyday objects and spaces. Created by Bryan Maddock as a public research project, and developed by Fantastic Offense, a collective focused on urbanism and architecture, the result can facilitate the designs of architects, designers, artists and anyone with a general curiosity about the world, to better communicate the basic properties, systems and logic of what surrounds us.

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  • What is Visual Merchandising and Window Dressing?
    Design

    What is Visual Merchandising and Window Dressing?

    Learn about the history of window dressing and how it can be used to make a brand stand out. Window shopping is a fusion of lots of different disciplines: art direction, crafts, architecture, sculpture, installation, and, of course, design. They are all strategies which are used to draw potential customers into a shop. It’s how the shop communicates with the consumer. Window shopping is directly linked to visual merchandising – a marketing and design strategy for displaying products and services in a way that is logical and attractive (both inside the shop and in the display windows) to create a great shopping experience and boost sales. Founders and directors of Kiosco Creativo, Carla and Laura, are experts in window dressing. They have created more than 20 window displays for Hermès, Swarovski, and Disney. Here they answer four key questions that will help you to better understand visual merchandising and window dressing:

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  • What Is a Creative Portfolio and What Should It Include?
    Illustration

    What Is a Creative Portfolio and What Should It Include?

    Discover how to create a portfolio that draws the attention of prospective clients In all creative fields—especially those that are visually-led—a good portfolio will open doors to new clients and employers. It is therefore essential that you present your work well, and that your portfolio is a good representation of what you can do. So, what exactly is a portfolio? What should it include? Here, Sandra López—one of the founders of the first-ever illustration agency in Spain, Pencil·Ilustradores (@pencil)—answers all of your questions and explains exactly what a creative portfolio sets out to achieve.

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  • 5 Interior Design Trends from 2019
    Design

    5 Interior Design Trends from 2019

    We review the interior design trends that have defined the past year, summarized in five colors Design is the result of its time, and the design of the spaces in which we spend our time–be it hotels, restaurants or other public places–even more. Each year–each decade–has its favorite interior design trends, in terms of color, shape or materials, which respond to contemporary concerns in fashion and society. Ana Hernández and Christophe Penasse, from the interior design and product studio Masquespacio, are always up to date with the latest trends in this area of ​​design, so we decided to ask them about the five top trends in interior design that have marked this past 2019. As they point out, "our 2019 trend proposals are based on the use of color and the different representation that each one can have for a trend. Each of them, in addition, can be used both in the use of materials or the color itself." Go for it. Beige White: Natural / Craftsman The use of beige white colors is intended to represent an aesthetic that seeks to connect with the natural and the artisanal.

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