Best of the Web – March 2010

March has been another solid month for amazing Photoshop content. In this month’s roundup we have selected some great, high quality tutorials that utilize 2d drawings as well as 3d art that you can create for yourself in Cinema 4D. On the freebie front, like always, we have some great new wallpapers, brushes, and icons for you. And lastly the articles we have this month cover a wide variety of topic like earning more as a web designer, and your favorite Photoshop communities on Facebook. So lets get into another roundup.

Tutorial Wrap

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  Creating light Effects with Textures

  Our first tutorial is a very high quality one and is recommended for everyone to try out because the techniques are not difficult to do but they are hard to master. Designer Craig Shields shows us how to combine rough textures and your own doodles to give lighting to an ordinary stock. As stated earlier this is
  definitely a must try for everyone.

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  Melting Girl

  The melting technique is something that is widely used by a lot of designers. If you are one of those designers who
  hasn’t a clue how to make this effect than this tutorial is for you. The execution might not be the best but this is a great stepping-stone for
  achieving a great melting effect. So read up and try this out yourself.

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  Create Retro Poster Art

  This tutorial is not too advanced but then again, not too easy. The tutorial will show you how to take regular stocks and blend them with other images to create a retro poster. The author of this tutorial does a great job of showing you exactly how to get that retro feel to your art; from the type of colors to shapes that decorate your canvas.

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  3D and Photoshop Balance

  Our next tutorial focuses on blending 3D images that are made in Cinema 4D with custom created 2D images in Photoshop. If you are one of those people who enjoys the mix of 2 and 3D images than this is a good tutorial to learn the proper techniques. The author is
  thorough and gives you all the information you will need to try this on your own. So check this one out.

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  Achieve Brilliant Lighting Effects

  Here we have another tutorial that will mix 3D images with a simple stock, but this time the author focuses more on the lighting of the piece. And good lighting is very important when making an illustration, so this is another tutorial that everyone should check out because the author does a great job of explaining the simple techniques behind this illustration.

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  Importing 3D renders Into Photoshop

  When I first started using Cinema 4D the main problem I had was bringing my renders into Photoshop, so I figured this would be a great tutorial for the users who are unfamiliar how to do this.

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(FREE!) Download Picks

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  Dazzling Lighting Pack

  The first freebie that is up for grabs is a pack of 10 high quality lighting vectors. These are even better than the average pack since they are hand drawn which gives them an even nicer look when you add color to them. So download this pack and apply it to your art when you see fit.

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  Haiti Wallpaper

  Our next freebie raises awareness and gives you guys a nice wallpaper at the same time. Neil Hanvey created a great wallpaper raising awareness for the recent events in Haiti. So check this wallpaper out and download the resolution that fits your computer.

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  Pedra Textures

  At first I wasn’t too sure what Pedra really is but after taking a closer look at the textures, it doesn’t really matter. The cracked details are great along with the color of these rocky textures. They are high quality so there will be a lot of places you can apply them too, so check it out.

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  Abstract Wallpaper Collection

  If the first wallpaper didn’t warrant a download then this pack definitely will. The guys over at WallpaperArt have compiled a pack of some of the best and recent abstract wallpapers. There are a bunch of different styles as well as color
  combinations, so this is definitely something worth checking out.

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  50 Stunning Typographic Wallpapers

  Now if you still couldn’t pick out a great wallpaper then check this pack out. 50 Amazing typographic wallpapers from all around the net, if you don’t need a wallpaper then just check this post out for inspiration because there are a lot of interesting typography schemes used in these wallpapers.

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  Google Buzz

  Since "Google Buzz" is now being used by many blogs it’s only right that we find a great high quality icon pack for the new child of Google. This pack contains 24 great high quality icons, so if you have a blog that is using Buzz then check this out and download this sleek icon pack.

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Article Wrap

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  Earn More as Designer

  Our first article is something all the freelance designers as well as all the other types of designers should read. This article gives 10 great tips on how a designer could earn more money; these tips range from not picking
  stressful jobs, to proper design marketing. So this is a very informative read for those who think they can make more money.

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  Starting Your Graphic Design Business

  For all the designers interested in opening up a business based around design, this is your article. This 2-part article is very informative and gives some great insight on the struggles and rewards of this field.

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  Inspiring Typography Designs

  Our next article is an inspirational roundup of 40 interesting typographical designs. If you are into this and are in need of some ideas then definitely check out this pack of cool designs.

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  Techniques for Squeezing Images For All They’re Worth

  This article covers a very interesting topic, image quality and how we can get all we can out of an image. Since quality is
  extremely important in design I believe this is another must read for everyone because it shows some interesting techniques on getting all you can out of an image, quality wise.

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  Color Isn’t Always Better

  The next article is arguing that in some instances a designer should take away the color from his illustration. This is very interesting considering the majority of illustrations now are full of color, so this is something everyone should read because of the odd perspective the author is taking.

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  Finding Favorite Design Communities on Facebook

  If you are on Facebook and want to be friends with your favorite design community then this is the article for you. The author of this article rounds up some of the most popular design blogs on the net and links you to their Facebook page. So if you haven’t already, check this article out and add us on Facebook!

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