It will only be available to vote on the for the next 7 days so any votes would be greatly appreciated and if the shirt gets made, I’ll be giving some away on here and www.jordanmemari.com!

VOTE NOW!

The ever-so funky Holly Stanway was the lucky winner of a 24-piece Letraset Tria Visualization kit with a bleedproof marker pad.

Holly is an Illustrator & artist working with everything from pens & paints to fabric & textiles. If you’re looking for an interesting read, or want some instructables on making somethings yourself, check out Holly’s blog alittlestranger.com.

Ok so we’re a little slow of the mark but Happy New Year from us all! We hope everyone had a good year in 2009 (Year of the OX!) but we hope you have an even better year in 2010.

I’ve been thinking about a few things that I would like to achieve in 2010. Whilst these are really specific to OxCreative, they are things that I think most of us could try to embrace:

1. Write more Blog Posts

More blog posts equals more content. More content equals more traffic. More traffic means lots of interaction, followers and good networking! It would be nice to start interacting with those in the community and so we are looking to post once every few days – even if it’s just a small update, just something to let you know we’re still here! Likewise, if you ever have a comment, question or just want a general chat you can get in touch with us via the website or twitter!

2. Take more photographs

Last year I bought a Canon 450d with a Canon 18-55 mm EF-S lens, Tamron 70-300mm Telephoto Lens and LowePro Slingshot backpack. I figured I was all set to venture off into the world of photography and in some sense I was… I managed to get some nice macro shots of the creatures that devoured my garden, but when it came to landscapes I couldn’t get it right. I realised I needed a tripod and some filters (UV and Polarizing) so my orders have now been placed and I should receive them shortly! You’ll be seeing more photography on the site and also I’ll be updating flickr.

(Photography is a pretty good way to learn about composition, imagery and creating different visual effects as well as being a great way to relax, get some fresh air and step away from the drawing board, desk or easel!)

3. Learn ActionScript

It’s something I have been on/off with for a while but I have decided to finally give it my all and have booked up with an Adobe Certified training company to teach me ActionScript 3 (a basic introduction) and also Objected Orientated (OOP) Advanced ActionScript 3 with Design Patterns.

If you are a web designer and have no coding skills, it is definitely worth thinking about learning some front-end development languages such as HTML/CSS, JavaScript and ActionScript. I have seen more often than not, Web design agencies are looking for multi-skilled and multi-faceted employees. The usual tends to be Designer/Front-end developer & Developer (Back-End/Front-end) which makes sense to have some degree of overlap and understanding of how things work.

4. Make an Application or game

I am not sure what I would like to make yet, but I think that in order to push my ‘yet to come’ ActionScript skills, I will need a project to challenge me and so will aim to complete an application or game by the end of 2010.

5. Exercise more and get healthy

Very cliché I know, but healthy body, healthy mind! I need to take my own advice on this one, cut down on the junk food and do some exercise. In the past few weeks I have worked on a few different projects (web design and corporate branding) and have spent the rest of the time eating, sleeping or playing Modern Warfare 2! Not a healthy lifestyle and so I am going to start cycling at least twice a week and see if it eases creative block, increases alertness & awareness and makes me feel a bit more like a healthier and a little less like a zombie!

6. Contribute more to Istockphoto

For those of you who don’t use Istockphoto you should really give it a try. They have an awesome community, a wealth of information and tutorials and also it allows you to not only save time by purchasing pre-created illustrations/photographs but also to contribute and generate some all important cash! Last year, I somewhat ambitiously joined the ‘race to gold’ where members actively try to gain a ‘gold canister’ which shows they have had more than 10,000 downloads of their files. This was a unrealistic of me as I only have 23 files on the site and so each would have had to been downloaded 434 times each (approx)!

This year I am going for the modest ‘bronze canister’ (250 downloads) and would like to get close to silver (2,500 downloads).

I would love to hear what others have for their New Years’ resolutions so why not drop us a comment at the bottom of this post and let us know what you’ll be doing to challenge yourself in 2010.

Step 1

Open a new Photoshop document and set the background colour to black. We used a 1000px X 1000px document.
Create a new layer and from the brushes panel select a soft round brush – we used the 45 pixel brush (see below).

Step 2

In the brush editor, select ‘shape dynamics’ and set ‘size jitter’ to 100%. Next, select ‘Scattering’ and set scatter to 1000% and check the box for ‘Both Axes’. Set ‘count jitter’ to 86% and check the boxes for ‘wet edges’ and ‘smoothing’ on the left.

Step 3

Draw a line or curve on the new layer you created in Step 1. You should get an effect like the one below:

Step 4

Double click on the layer to bring up the effects palette. Select ‘Gradient Overlay’ and in the gradient dropdown, select your desired gradient.

Result

You should be left with a particle or bokeh effect which you can use a background. Try tweaking the opacity, applying a Gaussian blur or increasing the brush size to achieve different effects!

Pro Markers are Letraset’s entry-level alcohol-based marker pens (the premium range are known as Letraset Tria’s). This is not to say that they cannot be used for professional purposes and with them you can achieve some fantastic results. Pro Marker’s are twin-tipped, with a fine-point end (a similar size to that of a standard felt-tip) and a wide standard square marker tip. Because they are alcohol-based, they are great at giving even coverage, smoothness and getting those all important gradients/shading when used with a blender pen.

The colour range is limited in comparison to the Tria range, but if you really needed the extensive colour-range, you should probably be looking more towards the Tria’s or other professional level marker range such as Copic’s Pro range.

There are a few accessories available for Pro Marker’s including an airbrush gun (which fits most standard air propellant cans available from craft/art stores), wallets and stands.

For best results, Pro Marker’s should only be used with acid-free, bleed-proof marker pads and from personal experience I have gained great results with both Letraset marker pads and Copic marker pads.

Conclusion
The Letraset Pro Marker offers a very high performance for a relatively low cost. For an entry-level alcohol-based marker, they really do offer unrivalled smoothness and you can pick them up for less than the cost of Copic’s entry-level markers, the Copic Ciao Range. A limited colour range and limited number of nibs limits what can be achieved with Letraset Pro Markers, but they are a great starting point for those who wish to take their illustration work to the next level, but can’t/won’t fork out for a pricey set of Letraset Tria’s or Copic Professional Markers.

Pro’s:
- low cost
- great quality
- accessories
- wide availability
- unrivalled smoothness

Con’s:
- limited colour range
- only two nibs (in comparison to Tria’s number of nibs)

Rating: 4/5

1 – Use good quality products

Whilst it’s true that a good artist should never blame his tools, it’s unlikely you will create something with a stick drawing in the mud as well as you would with good quality paper and good quality pens, pencils and markers. With this is mind, it is important to get what suits you best as there are lots of quality products available. I use Windsor & Newton Cartridge Sketch Pads for day to day draft/pencil work, Letraset Marker Pad’s for marker pen work and if I am working on a good pencil piece I use Bristol Board.
For pencils, I like to use Faber-Castell Grip Pencils as the triangular shape is more comfortable over prolonged periods. For tech work I recommend Pentel GraphGear 1000′s which are nice robust tech pencils with retractable nibs to prevent damage when they are not in use. When inking an illustration I use Hunt #102 nibs and windsor & newton ink. I also use muji and letraset fineliners.

2 – Keep it clean

If you are planning on digitizing your work, or if it is pencil work that you plan on inking/coloring later, make sure you keep it clean. Whilst you can work with rough pencils/linework, it’s much easier to work off clean lines and will save you more time in the long-run. It might be a good idea to invest in a good quality lightbox to allow you to tidy up illustration work before digitizing/inking/coloring. For a cheap alternative use a non-photo (non-repro) blue pencil for rough sketches and go over them in standard pencil, then tweak your scanner settings so the non-photo doesn’t show up in the scan.

3 – Practice, practice and practice some more

Practice makes perfect – try to set aside 30 mins everyday. practice drawing freehand circles, 5 point stars (without lifting your pen/pencil of the paper), 10×10 dotted grids and spirals with an even decay/spacing rate. This will help coordination and control when you are illustrating.

4 – Get inspired

Nowadays, most people have a mobile or cell phone and most of these phones have a camera – so there is no reason to have a lack of references or inspiration. Go out and photograph everything. Organise your photos in folders on your PC/Mac so that your reference images can be easily found when you need them.

5 – Improve your surroundings

It is important to make your surroundings as comfortable as possible for when you are illustrating, especially if you are going to be there for long hours. A good sized desk and a comfortable chair are necessities. Whilst not everyone has space or can afford a professional drawing/draftsman desk, if it is possible then get one. It is also important to ensure you have good lighting and a adjustable drawing lamp can be bought for as little as £10-15 ($16-$24).

6 – Join a community

deviantart.com is a popular art/design/photography community and by becoming a member you will be encouraged to post your work for others to comment/crit allowing you to develop as a designer. Also checkout conceptart.org, cgsociety.org,

7 – The world outside

This may sound odd, but your illustration work will benefit lots if you do other things! All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy… or creatively drained and frustrated at least! Make sure you spend time with your friends – go out and enjoy life as being cooped up at a desk all day is not good for the mind or body.

8 – Keep healthy

healthy body – healthy mind. If you have ever suffered from creative block you’ll know what a nightmare it can be, especially if illustration is part of your livelihood or studies. Stress, lack of sleep and over-working can all lead to creative block so it is important to take time to do something else. Exercising is great for releasing stress, naturally exhausting your body and can help stimulate blood flow to the brain improving alertness, brain functioning and concentration. It is also important to drink at least 2 litres of water per day to keep your body hydrated as dehydration affects mental performance significantly.

9 – Save your thoughts

For alot of artists, there best ideas come at the most unexpected and strangest of times. Keep a pocket-sized notepad and pencil with you at all times so you can sketch a thumbnail when you get an idea for an illustration.

10 – Climb out of the comfort zone

most artists have something they want to improve on or feel is weaker than other areas. Whether it is technique, anatomy, perspective, shading and lighting or proportions, it is easy to avoid  your area of weakness and find easy ways around including it within your work. It is critical that you push yourself and actively go out of your way to improve your weaknesses to make you a better illustrator.