Most of you already know who Sean Hodge is, but for those that don’t, he is the editor for Psdtuts+ as well as Vectortuts+. I will soon be conducting an interview with Sean about running these two blogs and I need your help. So read along about all the details and help us make this
a great interview!
Pose Your Questions in the Comments
Ever wondered how these blogs run? What’s it like behind the scenes? How is content chosen? How long does it take to go from concept to publish ready tutorial? Who makes up the team behind these successful design sites? Or any other burning interests you have on how these Tuts+ blogs run? Submit your questions in the comments? A good selection of these questions will then be answered by our editor in an interview format.
Sean runs the day to day operations of these two blogs, posting most of the daily tutorials, interviews, articles, and videos. We have a history of transparency on these Envato sites, and are happy to answer your questions!
About the Coming Interview
In the near future, I will be interviewing Sean about the logistics of running these blogs. We want to make it as informative to our readers as possible, this is why we want you (the reader) to post a question for Sean in the comments below.
In about a week or so I will pick out some of the best questions and present them to Sean along with my own set. So hopefully this will result in a learning experience for all our readers,
and provide you insight into the ins and outs of running a successful design blog.
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Make videos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They do, and that’s hardly a question…
How do you manage to keep up sutch a good work, and also keep up with your social life? Like girls, firends, so on…
Yours, lumzor
Well, I’m married and I work from home. So, I spend tons of quality time with my wife and son, which is great. My role as editor is a full-time job, but leaves plenty of time to do things in the evenings and on the weekends.
How did you get your team together? Did you begin employing your friends? Or are they people you’ve never met before?
When did you start outsourcing your work? (How/Why)
What is your typical day like? (How much time do you spend on the site? Are there daily protocols you follow?)
These would be questions for Collis, not Sean.
Nice one… :)
I touch on most of these questions in the interview http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-psdtuts-and-vectortuts-editor-sean-hodge/
Do you make other training in “real life” too?
ah yes, this would be helpful
I don’t currently train in “real life,” but it’s something that long-term I may get into.
your hobbies? favourite music, tv shows, movies?
I like to read, draw, and miscellaneous nerdy stuff. I watch way to much TV. My son has cartoons on alot. Spong Bob is on right now. I like more investigative, and thriller shows, like CSI. I watch loads of movies. I really like thriller/supernatural/sci-fi films. I play basketball and go to the zoo beach and things like that.
Hi Emil, I’d like to know how Sean started working on these two blogs. I think that would be inspiring.
This story is covered in the interview http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-psdtuts-and-vectortuts-editor-sean-hodge/
Hello,
For when there will be a site translated into French?
It’s very interesting!!!
Red.
Alinedi – I know this is something they’re considering, and likely working on in our development area.
Mac or PCs? Favorite software besides Photoshop and Illustrator?
Right, the mac/pc question could be nice to know.
$5 he will say Macs, because 90% of designers use them, and Macs are more for “graphics”.
Althought i dont really like mac, my brothers doesnt even have a right-click, which just by that, i would never design on something without right click, its annoying.
Yah, I’m a Mac guy. This question is covered in the interview http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-psdtuts-and-vectortuts-editor-sean-hodge/
When you recruit tutorials, what are you looking for in them? Becouse I had sended some tuts for your review and you guys turned them down. I know I know they could’ve been better,but still im interested ;)
Ya I had the same experience…I just want to know what you guys are looking for cause I sent it something and it got turned down and then later I saw some really (Im not gonna say horrible looking stuff… Ill just think it.) And I couldn’t understand where my error was. Maybe I’m missing the big picture.
And I yes I did bear all a few thing in mind….It would have been easy to follow very clear and straight to the point..I did everything right…..I think! :-)
Hey guys, I cover this in the interview http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-psdtuts-and-vectortuts-editor-sean-hodge/
Is editing and reviewing tuts a chore or do you enjoy it as much as designing?
Good question. In all honesty it is a bit of a chore. It isn’t nearly as fun as designing. But it is a good job and I’m really happy to be helping put together great learning material for people. I cover this a bit more in the interview. Thx.
If you read tutorials wich are sent by readers. Do you learn from them ?
Yah I definitely learn from the tutorials. Not nearly as much as someone who goes through step by step and does the tutorial, but I learn new techniques, how pros go about their workflow, and other tips along the way when editing.
What would you suggest to beginning blog editors?
@Tim Smith – that’s kinda a huge question. Here are a few tips though, follow Problogger.com and some other blogs on blogging. As with anything follow some blogs you identify with and try to pick apart what works. Also, it’s kinda crazy how much quality information there is on running a blog available for free. Just digest it over time, experiment, and keep growing as a blogger and editor.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ve been running my own blog for about two months and I’m happy to say that things are going very well. What I found most useful of the interview that you did is how much in advance the content is planned out. I think that my blog will run a lot smoother if I put that into practice. Thanks again for responding to my question and for the great interview.
Will you give me a job if I drop out of school?
THX K
:P
Corey, nice one.
Hahahaha.. yeah very funny… hahaha..
We work with lot’s of people with specialized skills. We don’t often hire people full-time though. It really doesn’t matter your age or educational status, but rather what role we’re looking to fill and if you’re domonstatable skills are a good match.
who is your daddy and what does he do?
FTW!
good one!
My dad is a machinist. He runs a small machine shop in Oregon. It’s a difficult job. I remember having helping him out at the shop, metal chips and coolant spraying in my face, while pressing a drill bit through 1000s of exactly the same metal cogs. He does have one computerized machine, but much of his work was done with lathes, which is muscle intensive work. I feel fortunate to work on a laptop.
My stepfather is a retired attorney. He worked in the insurance industry in Connecticut for years mostly running teams that created legal docs and researched legal issues.
What do you think about the open-source alternatives of Photoshop and Illustrator ( GIMP and Inkscape )
RJ
RJ, I got hooked into Illustrator and Photoshop early on in my design education. So, I’ve always used them. I really don’t know the ins and outs of GIMP or Inkscape, but I certainly have nothing against them. We use WordPress, which is open source and I’m a big Drupal fan.
It really comes down to familiarity for me. And I really love the interface and growth of Adobe products. I know they can be pricey for students, but for pros it works out fine. I don’t usually upgrade with every release though, often I upgrade every other release. You can certainly work with open source software, and if needed make the jump to commercial software if necessary in the future.
I really can’t compare the programs well because I just haven’t used those. We do publish Inkscape tuts sometimes on Vectortuts+. This site is really focused on Photoshop though. Thx.
how is it like to have two lives running at the same time? You take care of both psdtuts + vectortuts, which I presume is hard to maintain and update daily and keep up with your outside life?
@kevinsturf – They really are similar tasks for each site, so I’ve developed a rhythm over time where I work on both sites throughout the day. So, they don’t really feel like separate endeavors – even though they are.
Also, I rely on our writers for the strength of our content. I mostly plan, communicate, edit, and manage the sites. The amount of work is sometimes hard to maintain in a regular work week, but I’ve gotten faster over time.
What’s the highest number of unread emails you’ve ever had? ;)
Alex, good one! Yah, there have certainly been times when I’ve fallen behind.
Fortunately, I’m really up to date now and planned well ahead with content, which is a great feeling. One the bonuses on the job is that I’m mostly working on content that’s for a month from now, and not today. It means I can really pace my day however I please, take breaks whenever I want, as long as everything keeps getting done.
Last night I couldn’t sleep and was working on things at 3-4am, which meant I was able to communicate with Skellie in real time while she was working, because our timezones are opposite. Usually we have a day lag time between our email correspondences.
Why this kind of work?
@Mark – I’ve always been as interested in writing as I am design, so when I got into blogging about design it was really a good fit for me. In college I took loads of English lit classes, travel writing courses, creative writing courses, and even poetry along side the History and Design courses. I actually spent way too much time in college and had enough credits that I could have almost got a degree in either History, Literature, or Graphic Design.
How did you do to make PSD Tuts a big reference in the domain? How did you launch it?
Psdtuts+ didn’t launch in a pro way really. Like most blogs it has humble roots and certainly took time to grow into a leader in Photoshop instruction.
It started as Collis’s Photoshop tutorial blog, but it really stood apart from other blogs from the beginning by the quality of tuts he was posting. He also kept at it with improving the design, which along with our backend team he still handles.
Once he decided to outsource some work, it really started to add professional long-term positions, which have helped it grow immensely. They blog slowly transformed into a commercial endeavor, which meant we were able to hire loads of awesome artist/writers to make high quality tuts for the site. As well as bring in pros that can focus on things like blog growth, management, as well as people for highly specialized tasks.
How did it all start, and why?
This is a good one too!
How many tutorials offerings do you get weekly (daily?)?
On Psdtuts+ it’s about 40 a week, though it varies.
can i has your babbies?
@marion – My wife has this arena happily locked down (:
How much did you make? :) hahaha
Keep up. Nice work!
May the Force be with you.
I’ll say my income is better than when I was freelancing and it’s certainly more consistent, which is one of the benefits of this position.
Who is your favourite Spice Girl?
Posh! or maybe Sporty… at least Sporty could sing! Posh could not sing!
I can’t remember their music or exactly what they look like anymore. A few years ago though I probably had a favorite.
What is the hardest part about running the site? Do you make a living doing these sites or do you have other jobs? Great sites!
Yah, I don’t do much freelance work anymore. I work on these tuts sites full-time. And sometimes even put in a few extra hours developing content. I still practice design though and certainly read up on topics alot.
What runs Tuts+? For example, what are the CMSs that are used to run all the sites, including the Plus content? Thanks. Love you guys!
Last I heard Tuts+ was WordPress and the marketplaces were custom written, in Rails I believe.
Thanks Chris.
I really don’t know much about the backend of the marketplaces. Thx.
@Arron – Yah, we’re running WordPress. I’m not personally involved in the site design, maintenance, planning of future growth, or any of the backend. Collis has a book out on WordPress though http://rockablepress.com/books/rockstar-wordpress-designer/ and he does send mockups over for us to check out before launch, which always blow me away. I think we’re on V4 for the Tuts+ site theme now. Lot’s of improvements and refinements in the design over time.
If you could fight anyone living or dead, who would it be.
I love these kinda questions. Although it would likely create a paradox, I’d go back in time and kick the crap out of myself right before I made a really stupid decision. Then I’d say “You’ll understand soon enough!” to myself lying on the ground in pain. Or just say something nonsensical to keep the ass kicking mysterious.
Can you add more text effect tutorials.
you can find tons’ of text effects tutorials arround the web, try harder; and try to read something about design principles in a book (those made of paper). the science behind text effects is pretty simple, ad a drop-shadow here, some layer blending options there, ad some texture and gradient overlays…, the best way to do great designs is to get great ideas and the great ideas comes when you do more things when your computer is off. so take a look at your environment, learn the basics of layer fx in psd and begin trying to emulate reality, if you can’t acchieve it (because is very hard, also for me) in the meantime i’m shure you will learn a lot of usefull things and begin creating your own text effects!
@Austin – We’ll definately be adding more text effect tutorials. Alex Beltechi is really interested in this area, and has more tuts on this subject coming in the future I’m sure!
I think the adding in 3D renders of text and photo-manipulations to your text effects can really take it visually to a higher level of sophistication, though keep in mind concept is really important as well.
1) How young where you when you first started making/working with websites.
2) How do you find time to manage all of your websites.
3) Whats your favorite websites besides one that you run.
@Randy – I was about 23 or so when I got into design. I think I was 25 when I got into web design. I may have the ages wrong, but I certainly wasn’t an early achiever. Psdtuts+ and Vectortuts+ get most of my attention. Most of my other websites I struggle to find time for. Some of my favorite sites are: Sitepoint, Abduzeedo, and a bunch of design blogs. I also read Problogger quite often. I find things through Twitter alot also.
At what point you start to monetize the site?
When did you start to see real income from the site?
I know about this site via twitter by Smashing Mag and since that day this is one of my daily sites to visit and check new stuff.
beside the great content and twitter how did you market your site to bring more visits?
was it hard getting money at the beginning with not so much content?
“At what point you start to monetize the site?
When did you start to see real income from the site?
was it hard getting money at the beginning with not so much content?”
Another good one!
@Ariel – My role on the site has never been as the one responsible for money, except for having a budget to work with. Skellie the Tuts+ manager is responsible for that. I cover this a bit more in the interview http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-psdtuts-and-vectortuts-editor-sean-hodge/
I mention how the budget works in general and how we run on negative returns often for quite some time before new Tuts+ sites become successful.
When are you going to give free suscriptions for PSD PLUS…?
If they did that it would be PSD Minus.
@Ricardo – Except for occasional contest winners, I can’t image this would ever be free. My personal opinion is that the cost is really low for the high-quality content members get.
Also, we already release free tutorials on the site. For every Plus tutorial released, we also release an average of 3 free tutorials, as well as articles and other material on the blog. We have well over 200 free tutorials on the Psdtuts+ blog.
The fact that this is a successful and growing commercial endeavor means we’re here for the long-term and will continue to provide high-quality content in the future.
What are some of the best web development books in your library?
@Rick Bross – Most of my Dev books are based on Drupal. It’s just my personal preference for CMS, though it’s not what we use on the Tuts+ network. That’s WordPress.
I’m currently working through an awesome Druapl theming book: http://drupal.org/node/442298
What are your inspirations and how do you work it out when all things get messed up?
@arnold C
My inspirations are vast, and change all the time. I cover that a bit in the interview http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-psdtuts-and-vectortuts-editor-sean-hodge/
When things get messed up it can be hard to fix them of course. Sometimes, things become “emotionally tough” when they don’t work out well. It can be a challenge to separate this emotion from the simple act of doing. Most issues no matter how daunting are just a matter of breaking them down into smaller achievable tasks. Once you’ve done that, then just bang them out until you’ve fixed whatever got messed up.
I´ve the same question that exido have. Are there some other parameters on which you base to chose a tutorial? because i think that some tutorials seems do not belong to the same category as the rest, are neither unique nor original.
I´ll be waiting for the interview
@Stephen – I cover this quite a bit in the interview http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-psdtuts-and-vectortuts-editor-sean-hodge/
And yah, there is a certain percentage of content which I work with brand new authors. This is always a risk from an editorial point of view, but it’s also turned out great with some artists.
Our typical ratio is 1 Awesome Plus tut each week, 1 and often 2 tuts from our regular writers that are consistently putting out high quality content on a regular basis. And then there is often 1 tutorial from someone lesser know writer that has proposed a good idea for a tut. Sometimes there are 2 of those, but usually it’s just 1. Sometimes these tuts hit a home run, and other times they turn out good, but not great.
I give some tips on sending in tut concepts in the interview, but to an extent there is just alot of concepts sent weekly and not everyone can make it to publication. It also takes alot more time to work with a new author, and so there is only so many of those I can publish each week.
I’m learning Final Cut Pro and was wondering – do you plan to offer any Final Cut Pro tutorials / video tutorials, and if not could you suggest a good site with regular updates and information in the same format as you guys do?
@John – I think we’re considering numerous avenues for possible growth with the Tuts+ network, but I’m not sure where a video tutorial site is on that list. I actually am not a video guy, so I really don’t have a recommendation here.
How many people work for these sites?
I don’t know the exact number, but it’s quite a few. Just count the number of artists that post each month and you’ll see that alone is often more than 30. We’ve also got a backend team, management staff, and some specialized tasks outsourced to quality people, which we keep adding as time goes on.
For example, Roger Byrne http://twitter.com/styletime took over the Twittering for Psdtuts+ and Vectortuts+ recently, which is a huge help. This frees me up to focus that time on content. Every person we add to do a specialized task makes the site run all that more efficiently.
How come you still havent correct the error in internet explorer??!!!!
@wpheroes – That’s really a question for Collis and our site design and backend staff. Thx.
So how did you come up with the idea of PSDTuts and family. It’s such a simple idea but one that has grown. As i’m pretty surprised that there hasn’t been much competition in the arena.
@mits – This is really the handi-work of Collis’s brain. You might want to follow him over at the Netsetter. He talks about his business ideas there http://thenetsetter.com/blog/
I’m curious which backend framework is used for the Tuts websites and the Market websites (FlashDen, ThemeForest, …)?
@BigBrov – Yah man I’m sure we can get an interview with Collis at some point. Emil going to work on that. He’d be able to give some info on that.
LOL…oh Man! this has to be one of the craziest posts ever…. most people are just asking crazy questions! hahahah I cant stop laughing…
one of my favourites – “Who’s your Daddy and what does he do?” HAHAHA!
Okay okay.. now seriously! Dont you guys think video tutorials are better? And why in the heck did Beyonce end up with Jay Z?
and dont forget this one
Who is your favourite Spice Girl?
LOL…..haha
I disagree…
I think written tutorials are better. You can see text better with net building tutorials and they’re helpful with copy/paste stuff like color hex # and I’m sure they have great SEO benefits and lastly I can’t thumb through a video.
Okay good points. Thanks for bursting my bubble dude…
I’m kidding :-)
But I’m sure making a video tutorial is a lot less easier that writing one.
@Modisana – Yah, cheecky comments add some flavor to the flow of ideas in the comments, as long as it doesn’t get too out of control. People haven’t asked any funny questions that have struck a cord with me yet. Unfortunately, I don’t know too much about JayZ. He isn’t one of my favorite rappers – even though he flows awesome.
Video tuts are great. @praeter design mentioned some of the benefits of written tuts. When Skellie had the idea of combining video tuts on top of one of our written tuts each week, I really wasn’t a hundred percent behind it at first. Probably because I didn’t have much experience with it.
It’s proved to be super successful, and adds another dimension to the tutorials where you can actually follow along and see exactly what someone does. I think both formats have there benefits and we’ll keep putting out Video tuts. Gavin is doing a great job and it’s certainly an area we could grow in the future.
What would you do in the event of a zombie apocalypse? :)
Brilliant… I ask my kids baby-sitters the same question!
I don’t think I’m much of a survivalist. The death of the internet in the wake of this kind of apocalypse would probably kill me itself.
I had lot of questions…
and also I’m always interested in Behind the scenes ;)
First of all thanks to Emil for this post…
Asking apart from profession?
1. Tell about ur family now (married) and before (non married) [I think u are a married man!]
2. Who disturb you well when u edit the posts are u are in work?
3. Whats all ur fav food, film, song, dress, rolemodel,
4. U play any music instrument?
5. Which word you said several time a day?
Now come to ur professions?
1. How collis picked you? That is how u inspire him?
2. Who Inspired u much? (if several persons means say top3)
3. When you start ur carrer as a designer? and when this interest comes in ur life?
4. Say some top 3 tutorials, video tutorials, blog u ever read???
others
1. Is somebody try to hack psdtuts on anyday?
2. Who keeps the password of those sites?? (is u say the password to anybody)
3. What is ur salary….
:D
Thats all :roll: maybe :D
If i dont get answers for this questions no problem, this is some the questions i want to ask thats all…
Good luck Emil and Sean :D
How many tutorials u reject and how many are now in a pending state and what are all your upcoming ideas to develop those two sites??
If money ruins out (suppose) then how will you pay 150$ for a tut? :)
this question is very very good!
When will you give torrents of all video tutorial in psdtuts and in vectorttuts????
I except the torrent here… It saves the bandwidth too! :D
2. Who disturb you well when u edit the posts are u are in work?
I will give anybody $50 if they can translate this sentence…
Then give that 50$ to me ;)
That means. if u do an interesting work, then a small intelligent boy from the neighbor house comes to ask u several questions And interrupt ur work… This is what I mean and ask that question…..
Sorry For my bad English, I’m new to the English too :)
This is a correct form [maybe! ;) ]
2. Who disturb you well when u edit the posts or u are in work? [by means of phone, unwanted chats or anything]
Thanks brent to read my huge list and spot a mistake…
Thanks ;)
I’ll take a stab at it…
“Do you get disturbed or distracted while working or editing the posts, or do you work in a peaceful office or a zen-like home environment?”
You keep-on keepin-on Lawrence!
Lawrence is great, I read his comments on pretty much every post. I can definitely tell he is enthusiastic about both design and PSDTuts. I understand English is not his native language, and I applaud anyone who is trying to learn a new language.
Please don’t take offense, Lawrence, I was just wondering what #2 was saying as I honestly had no idea. :)
no problem brent…. I never take anything offense….
Thanks for ur support too… ;)
Sorry for late reply…..
@lawrence77 – Yah that little boy is my 2 1/2 year old son watching cartoons, asking me to play with him. He even notices the artwork I’m working on the laptop and get’s excited about the work. This is especially so when editing Vectortuts+ content because it looks more cartoony. He really likes the interviews. The Scary Girl game intro does actually scare him quite a bit http://vector.tutsplus.com/articles/interviews/interview-with-nathan-jurevicius-touch-my-pixel-and-renmotion/
haha funny Sean….
If He asking u to play means go…. :D
Small children are great to learn… ;)
He excited about the artworks I’m working on laptop …..
mmmm…. Future editor of psdtuts and vectortuts should like that only! ;)
Please make it a video interview! I want to see the guys behind these great sites. :D
that’s a good idea :)
I/We want a video that how Alvaro make/made a tutorial…
Not a Screencast record using CamStudio but a Video using a Video Camera…. hehe :D
Yes a video interview would be good.
And I hope the coming tutorials won’t just be in Torrent format.
I can’t access Torrent from here.
Maybe we can think of some other alternative.
A video interview is a good idea, but I decided not to do it this time around. Maybe in the future though.
Who shot J.R.?
I think the rifle did it.
Do you ever look at yourself, and think – woah, I’m awesome?
@Jack – I think when I was younger that happened, but I’ve been humbled by loads of failures and life experience. I certainly appreciate every small success I have, although it’s often placed within the larger view of things. I’m not super old, but I’m 33 so not super young either.
Do you guys know if there’s some plans for future new envato’s tuts network website?
@Diego SA – We just launched Cgtuts+ http://cg.tutsplus.com/ and I think Skellie is looking into a Photo tuts site. These are both exciting because these skills compliment Photoshop skills so well. I’m not sure what the other plans are right now.
What are the best ways to become creative in Photoshop and improve our overall design for our comps?
you must study a lot, do a lot, and find the way to begin billing for what you do, when the people pays they allways want the best quality in the shortest time possible (and sometimes in less time) and to have it done you must find the solution for them needs, so you force yourself to learn.
The other thing i think is a “MUST” to be creative in PS is to know as many keyboard shortcuts as you can (is almost impossible o learn them all) so you begin not o focus in the software but in your masterpiece
What (if anything) have you learned from working for the Tuts family as an editor? Do you think your experience here will help you in the future in any other endeavors you may pursue?
Also, what are some of your favorite bands?
@VergioSFX, good questions and they get covered in the interview http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-psdtuts-and-vectortuts-editor-sean-hodge/
Thanks for all the questions everybody. Feel free to post more. Emil will be working on putting this together and I look forward to answering these. Thx.
Can you live only with what you make on the website or this is just a side project, more foucesed on sharing knowledge?
If you do make money, how long did it take to start making money?
Are the collaborators paid or just friends and partners working together to make the world a better place?
Keep up the good work by the way!
@Gabriel Rocha – This is a successful commercial endeavor. It provides income to lot’s of artists and helps supplement their other income. For me, my role as editor is full-time. My time is split mostly evenly between Psdtuts+ and Vectortuts+ and I touch on some of these questions more in the interview http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-psdtuts-and-vectortuts-editor-sean-hodge/
With collaborators it’s been a combination of me recruiting artists and working with artists that have contacted us through our tutorial submission form. It isn’t a blog where it’s just myself and my friends putting together content, though some of those sites are great. I have certain become friendly with the artists I work with on a regular basis. It’s great to learn from them and share in this endeavor.