Best of the Web – November

on Dec 3rd 2007 with 33 comments

It’s December and as of Wednesday I’m off on vacation for a few weeks. But fortunately we’ve got plenty of tutorials lined up from some very talented Photoshoppers, so you can look forward to plenty of holiday season Psdtuts+! In the meantime, here’s a wrap of the best the Web had to offer in November…

Tutorial Wrap

  • Vector Polishing Techniques

    In what is easily the best tutorial of the month, Nick La of WebDesignerWall shows us some techniques to make your vector illustration work really rock.

    Visit Tutorial

  • Water Spirit – Drawing Fire

    Fire and flame effects are always cool, and this effect made using the Smudge Tool is no exception.

    Visit Tutorial

  • The iMouse

    Some tutorials have almost no practical application, but are fun to do anyway. The iMouse is one of those. The good thing is no matter how useful the end result, along the way you inevitably learn something new!

    Visit Tutorial

  • Smooth Glass Type

    I love text effects and awhile back we had a transparent text tutorial right here on Psdtuts+. Luxa.org has their own and it’s a neat effect, definitely worth a visit.

    Visit Tutorial

  • The Pen Tool Tutorial

    The Pen Tool is one of those tools that a lot of new Photoshoppers struggle with initially (I know I did!). So this PhotoshopSupport overview is a great starting point if you’re still getting to know it. And remember the pen is mightier than the …

    Visit Tutorial

  • Drawing the Human Eye

    Ever wonder how people illustrate eyes in Photoshop? Wonder no more, because Jezebel is spelling it out for us. While you’re there, check out some of the other awesome tutorials on offer (especially the pixel graphic ones!)

    Visit Tutorial

  • Creating a Space Scene

    If there’s one thing Photoshop has been used for since the dawn of time, it’s drawing space scenes. From planets to starfields, we’ve seen it all. In this tutorial Sunjo shows us how the best do it!

    Visit Tutorial

  • Snowy Christmas Illustration

    Yep it’s December alright, and the holiday season is invading even our Photoshop workspaces. If you need to make Christmas cards or promotions, then you’ll find this tutorial to put together a cartoony snow scene very handy.

    Visit Tutorial

  • Creating a Smooth Web Interface Column

    This is a simple but handy effect for designing Web sites and it’s well explained.

    Visit Tutorial

(FREE!) Download Picks

  • FONT: Mank Sans

    In case you haven’t realised from my monthly font choices, I really like slim, sans-serif typefaces and Mank Sans fits the bill nicely!

    Visit Download Site

  • STOCKPHOTOS: StockVault

    In the last few years, access to good, quality photos has really been revolutionized. Between cheap stock sites and Flickr, all of a sudden anyone can get great images. StockVault offers tons of images for free and the quality is not too bad at all!

    Visit Download Site

  • BRUSH RESOURCE: VBrush

    Judging by the fact that the homepage is last dated from 2004, I don’t think VBrush is going to change very frequently. Fortunately, the site has some 160 brush sets for download, including some great grungy ones.

    Visit Download Site

  • CUSTOM SHAPES : Revolution Collection

    Some cool Soviet-esque shapes for your Photoshop CS via DeviantArt and Hebedesign

    Visit Download Site

Article Wrap

  • The Secret to Getting a Lot of Web Design Work

    Ok, so I wrote this one myself over at FreelanceSwitch, but what’s wrong with a little shameless self-promotion :-)

    Read the Article

  • Tips for Presenting Your Work

    Over on the Psdtuts+ Flickr group, there’s been a little discussion on what to do when a client asks for bad changes. This article on ThinkVitamin has some good pointers on handling presentations.

    Read the Article

  • Is good design just a formula?

    Ravi asks whether people are designing by numbers and whether that even works? A neat post that strictly speaking went up on Dec 1st, but who’s counting!

    Read the Article

  • 12 Invaluable Sites for Web Design and Inspiration

    It’s not the most innovative list around, but hey those really are 12 good sites to check out, so I thought it was worth including!

    Read the Article

  • 7 Things to Avoid in Web Design

    I always enjoy Thuiven’s notepad entries, and I liked the fact that number 7 on this list is "Bad Content." As the writer notes "poor content = poor website." Ain’t that the truth!

    Read the Article

 
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Hello! I started Psdtuts+ because years ago reading Photoshop tutorials was how I got into design. You can find me on Twitter or on my blog theNetsetter.  

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  • http://53m1.com Jonathan Solichin

    Nice round up. Very interesting tutorials this month.

  • http://www.novaksblog.com Marko Novak

    Very nice set of tutorials and articles. I specially liked The Secret to Getting a Lot of Web Design Work.

  • http://psfreak.com/ BernardBlack

    Nice wrap :)

  • http://bt-design.net Fred

    Best round up yet!

  • Ben Gribbin

    I’m a new reader here, and this site truly is great, theres only 1 thing I’d liek to see….

    MORE POSTS PLEASE

    I cant wait till the next one :)

    Does anyone know any tutorials on actually how to create one of those cool vector illustrations, with all those ribbon like items?

    I keep trying, and failing :(

  • http://plexup.com/ Joefrey Mahusay

    Thanks for sharing of these very inspirational and educational links :)

    Two thumbs up Collis!

  • PLaTinUM

    Keep them coming, very nice work.

    P

  • jens

    Thanks

  • http://tk9killer.deviantart.com David

    Really nice and good tutorials keep it going^^.

  • http://cpu-theatre.org Machiel Veltkamp

    Thanks indeed for the nice round up of tutorials freebies and articles!

    This is many cup’s of coffee worth of reading and learning.

    A big “Thank you” from Milan.

  • http://www.mabucplus.com Mark Abucayon

    wow, did collis made all of this? youre really one of a kind- whats the secret collis? hehehe/ first of all thanks for this very useful and nice tutorial you shared to us. Many of us readers and freelancer waited your right ups and tuts… I like this one “Water Spirit – Drawing Fire”. keep posting collis you did a great job..

  • http://elitebydesign.com Brian

    Great resources and articles. I remember seeing most of those as they came out last month.

  • Umberto – Italy

    Hi there… is this just “overlay” or “multiply” to you? Tutorial could be cool and compliments to the author!
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/bdesignbe/2074912767/

  • b00m

    Best of the Web posts are good…And this is good too =) …. I’m looking forward to BftW (best of the web) – December…

  • http://constantinpotoracportfolio.xhost.ro/ Constantin Potorac

    I really love the iMouse tutorial. Really amazing what an Apple fan can do. ;)

  • Mr_LeE

    love it mate love it

  • http://ravivora.com/blog Ravi Vora

    Great list of links, and thanks for including my article!

  • http://masdsn.proboards67.com Sunjo

    Thanks for including my space signature tutorial up there. :)

  • http://www.cagintranet.com Chris

    Haha – “the pen is mightier …” – A classic Saturday Night Live skit for those of you who didn’t pick up on that. Seriously though – I need to learn how to use that damn pen tool…

  • Ignacio

    This site needs almost one tutorial per day.

  • http://www.kaplicam.net shipshaq

    i love it

  • http://www.thuiven.com Dor

    Hey Collis,

    Thanks for showcasing my article, I really do appreciate.

    Good day

  • http://www.graphikfood.com Zeb

    More inspiration !

    Cheers

  • Chito

    this one: Water Spirit – Drawing Fire failed this site’s standards. the flame doesn’t look too realistic. i would suggest choosing tuts that would equal psdtut’s quality! :)

    other than that those tuts/dls/articles really helped me in my recent project, thanks

  • The_Standard

    This is an excellent round up – i must say that this is a wonderful site and keep up the good work contributers.

  • http://www.mabucplus.com Mark Abucayon

    Nice work done I really love this tuts… Keep it up..

  • Hauff

    Where’s the updates?
    Where’s the updates?
    Where’s the updates?
    Where’s the updates?
    Where’s the updates?
    Where’s the updates?

  • http://luxa.org Luxa

    Great stuff. :) Glad you enjoyed the Glass Text tutorial.

  • http://www.veckd.com Greg

    Great sites, I love the 12 inspirational sites and the fire drawing tutorial.

  • mmhan

    Great Stuff, Thanks

  • http://www.ontopresults.com Charlotte Web Design

    Thats an informative list. Thanks for putting that together. I did not know about stockvault.

  • http://bwebi.com barat

    No way … my tutorial is on the list :) I’m proud :)

  • r4ge

    great list.