Best of the Web – February 2009

on Feb 28th 2009 with 28 comments

February is known for its lack of days when we have a leap year but there is no lack in great Photoshop material! This month we have tutorials on creating a breathtaking fantasy scene, an amazing set of icons and wallpapers, and the usual inspirational articles. So lets get into it!

Tutorial Wrap

  • Creating Dynamic Distortion Effects

    Computer Arts provides us another professional tutorial with a great outcome. Here you will learn how to create pro-looking
    distortions using simple brushes.

    Visit Tutorial

  • Space Explosion Tutorial

    Space art is a very popular type of design style, and it never hurts to learn some new techniques. Here you will make an amazing collision space scene using stocks and brushes. If your looking for more on this subject, then check our tutorial archives: Fiery Photoshop Space Explosion Tutorial.

    Visit Tutorial

  • Creating an Epic Fantasy Scene

    This is another amazing tutorial by the guys at Tutorial9. In this photo-manipulation tutorial you will learn how to take stocks and edit and combine them to create an amazing fantasy scene.

    Visit Tutorial

  • Color Combustion

    Here we have another photo-manipulation tutorial. This one involves very simple
    Photoshop techniques to create a very colorful scene.

    Visit Tutorial

  • Landscape Tutorial

    This tutorial shows us how to create a breathtaking landscape scene. The author shows you how to take different landscape scenes and merge them
    together to create one amazing scene.

    Visit Tutorial

  • Photoshop HDR

    This tutorial will show you how to take your photos and apply effects to them and convert to HDR.

    Visit Tutorial

(FREE!) Download Picks

  • 5 Carbon Fiber Textures

    This is a great set of textures if you are into creating sports cars in Photoshop. There is always a need for some carbon fiber, so download this texture.

    Visit Download Site

  • 20 Fantastic Deviant Wallpapers

    The writers at Abduzeedo have rounded up 20 amazing wallpapers from the
    talented artists of Deviant Art.

    Visit Download Site

  • Photoshop Brush Collection

    Here we have over 200 amazing brushes. There are 9 packs included and they are filled with amazing brushes.

    Visit Download Site

  • Retro Icon Set

    This is an awesome icon set of 10 professionally made retro icons. There are icons for everything from Email to RSS.

    Visit Download Site

  • Custom Vector Pack

    The guys at Bittbox have given us an awesome vector pack. There are 6 different types of vector packs inside of this one. A lot of nice stuff so this is a must download.

    Visit Download Site

  • Vector Set Sampler

    This is an awesome vector set by the guys at GomediaZine. There are 14 great vectors in this pack ranging from superheroes to skeletons. So check it out!

    Visit Download Site

Article Wrap

  • 7 Tips for Improving Your Portfolio

    Now all graphic designers who plan to sell their services need to have portfolio’s. So this is an article everyone should really read, these tips to increase the views on your portfolio.

    Visit Article

  • 10 Steps for a Perfect Portfolio

    If you are still unsure on how to perfect your portfolio, than you should definitely check this article
    which gives you an additional 10 tips to create a perfect portfolio. It also gives you a ton of examples of great portfolios.

    Visit Article

  • How Much to Charge for Design Work?

    This is an informative article that covers multiple designers points of view on formulas for charging clients. Many of the artists pose questions one should ask to derive this number. Some focus on looking at your own expenses and talent, and others have you look to the competitive landscape.

    Visit Article

  • Beautiful Blog Designs

    If you are creating a blog and need some inspiration, then check this post out. The author rounds up 21 of the best looking blogs out there. Or visit Outlaw Design Blog for a look at Cool App websites.

    Visit Article

  • 101 Breathtaking Infrared Photographs

    Infrared photography can really bring a photograph to life in front of your eyes. So you should definitely check out this compilation of 101 amazing infrared photographs.

    Visit Article

  • 40 Creative Inspirational Piece’s of Art

    These 40 conceptual designs are extremely creative and colorful. Noupe provides us with “provide you with some creative, expressive and appealing print, packaging, book cover, paper arts, pop-up books, paper toys, posters, et… In other words, anything made of paper.”

    Visit Article

  • 42 Twitter Backgrounds

    Now almost everybody has either visited or owns a twitter page. This is a compilation of 42 awesome Twitter backgrounds. If your looking to design your Twitter page, then check this post out for inspiration.

    Visit Download Site

 
Enjoyed this Post?

Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!

By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Emil Agarunov is from Brooklyn, New York. He has been using Photoshop for around four years and has been using Illustrator lightly for the past couple of years. His main techniques are vector based images and photo-manipulations.  

Plus Premium
 
 
  • Hans Mustermann

    Nice collection ;-)

  • Espj-o

    Another fine cookie-jar of trixs. :P

  • http://www.jsgspurs.com/media/ Oba

    Fantastic collection. Looking to revamp my portfolio/blog, so this has some very useful links!

  • http://www.creative32.com Qiming

    Ooo, not bad. Fantastic collection.

  • djierod

    Great collection, i’m going to try the Space Explosion tutorial. There are sure alot of handy things in it. Thanks again:)

  • http://www.theroxor.com Kevin

    Great list. It will take a while before I’ve looked at all the links.

  • Nacho

    great list! Though the “20 Fantastic Deviant Wallpapers” link is broken.

  • http://constantinpotorac.com/ Constantin Potorac

    Great resources and really useful. Not to mention the tutorials, they are really great. By the way stay tuned for another tutorial from Ciursa (autor of Creating an Epic Fantasy Scene) and me here on PSDTUTS.

  • http://www.psdburn.com Ciursa Ionut

    I’m glad to see one of my tutorials listed here.

    I can’t wait to publish my first tutorial on PSDTUTS, just like Constantin says.

  • Catherine Tsapelik

    Love such articles. Thanks

  • http://smilingdesigner.com Bjorn

    A great month (and year!) so far on PSDtuts. Can’t wait to see what’s next!

  • http://justcreativedesign.com Jacob Cass

    Thanks for the link out Emil (could you give me an email, I couldn’t find yours), you can get mine on my website, linked in my name.

    Also should mention I launched a new blog on branding, identity & logo design:

    http://logodesignerblog.com

  • http://www.raterror.com Stunt

    best

  • http://www.duzodesign.com Timothy

    decent list

  • Germansn

    nice post

  • http://blog.insicdesigns.com insic

    cool

  • http://www.agence-mcc.com Mathias

    I love the Retro Icon set.. thanks

  • http://www.w3planting.com W3Planting

    Cool list, always looking for this kind of post(s) :)

  • http://www.photofolio.be photofolio

    Nice collection. Too nice actually, when to read all this stuff …

  • http://www.menderesmertoglu.com menderes

    nicee

  • Benedyktus

    @ Constantin Potorac/
    Yes, but this artwork was made by Fishbot1337 ;)

  • http://www.dsaportfolio.com.br Diego SA

    I can’t read these articles! I just forget my work and don’t stop to read it. Well, I’ll find a time to read it! Thanks Emil.
    Back to work!

  • http://psdessential.com/ Matt

    Thanks for featuring PSD Essential guys.

  • http://www.bzminisites.com Bagus Zen

    Thanks for PS wood brush…really like it

  • http://iamronaldo.com/ Ron Scott

    Thanks for this man, It’s always great to go through these lists.

  • http://theovuong.com/ Theo

    THANKS!!!!!!

  • http://www.glosyztech.in Ponsakthi Anand

    Woooooooooooooooooooooow

  • http://www.templatelibrary.net chris

    i love your collection..i