The main idea of this project is to create a deck of 54 unique playing cards. Artists and illustrators pick a card each and design it in their own style. When all designs are submitted, the deck is printed in a strictly limited number of copies, which are distributed between the members of the project. In short “The Creative Cards Project” is 54 unique playing cards from 54 top artists with one addition for the backside!

It’s the brainchild of the guys at digitalabstracts.com whose aim is to create something useful, collectable, pretty and unique. For artists and designers to collaborate on an interesting project and show off their unique style and techniques.

Two of Diamonds by Jonathan Foerster

Author’s Website

Three of Spades by Raphaël Vicenzi

Author’s Website

Four of Diamonds by Kervin W Brisseaux

Author’s Website

Five of Hearts by Matt Jones aka Lunartik

Author’s Website

Six of Clubs by Vitalik Sheptuhin

Author’s Website

Seven of Spades by Brand Nu

Author’s Website

Eight of Clubs by Andreas Preis

Author’s Website

Nine of Hearts by Hello Monday

Author’s Website

Ten of Spades by Simplevector

Author’s Website

Knave of Hearts by Jonathan Wong

Author’s Website

Queen of Clubs by Lucas de Alcântara

Author’s Website

King of Clubs by James White

Author’s Website

Ace of Clubs by David Delin

Author’s Website

Joker by Kenny Lindström

Author’s Website

As of this posting the contest that would decide whose design would be used for the backside of the entire deck is still ongoing but will soon end on March 23, 12:00 GMT.

Based on the highest Facebook likes this design seems to be in the lead…

Backside by Giga Kobidze

Author’s Website

Visit Vote for your favourite backside! to check out the competition and make it count by voting for the design you think should win.

What we will be making

If you want get updated on what’s happening here at Prodigal Concepts make sure to be one of us and LIKE us on facebook OK?

Step 1 – Setting the stage

Open Photoshop and create a new document with a 500×500 pixel dimensions let’s name this file “glassy-orb”.

Step 2 – Background

First thing we will do as create a nice looking background, make your “Foreground #badff7″ and the “Background #02578e” then with the Gradient Tool (G) selected set the gradient to Foreground to Background and style to Radial Gradient.

Now go to the center of our work area and drag it diagonally going towards the bottom right. Rename this layer as “main-bg”.

You should have something like this.

Add some noise to give it more character, go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise adjust the following settings Amount: 2%, Distribution: Gaussian, tick Monochromatic.

Step 3 – the Orb

Create a New Layer and rename it “orb” then grab your “Ellipse Tool (U)” from your shapes pallete and drag it across our work area while holding the Shift key to keep it proportion to make a nice circle. Fill it with the foreground color. Keep it centered on your work area by making a selection of the outline (Ctrl + A) and using Align vertical center and Align horizontal center buttons.

Right click the “orb” layer and go to Blending Options to access Layer Styles then give it an Inner Glow with the following settings, Color #01a8fe

Add a Gradient Overlay and choose the default black and white. But replace the black with #00506d and the white to #152128.

You should now have something like this.

Step 4 – Details

Turn the “orb” layer into a selection Ctrl + click on the layer, then create a New Layer and name it “bottom-glow”. Use the foreground color #01a8fe and with your Gradient Tool (G) selected set the gradient effect to Foreground to Transparent and style should be Radial Gradient hold the Shift key and drag your gradient from the bottom going up, stop before you get to the top of the orb. Repeat this step on a new layer and rename it “bottom-glow-2” exactly the same settings except for the gradient style which should be Linear Gradient.

Add another layer and rename it “top-gloss” turn the “orb” into a selection again Ctrl + click on the layer then make the foreground color #ffffff keep the last gradient settings except for the color and drag it, this time from the top going down. Then use the Transform Tool (T) and pinch it a bit on the sides. You may need to pinch it vertically as well just use your judgement here.

Then align it to top and keep it horizontally centered. Turn down the Opacity to 50% and give it a little Gaussian Blur 1-2% Radius should be enough.

Finishing touches

After that you can incorporate any logo or object you want but for me I used the Facebook logo I found on hdicon.com I used the dark Facebook blue for the color, flipped it vertically to create a subtle reflection and added a hint of shadow with the marquee tool. Remember to insert all of these below the “top-gloss” layer.

Finally with the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) selected again I created a New Layer on top of the “main-bg” layer and called it “shadow”. Just drag it across to create a nice elongated shape, fill it with black and center it to your stage, make sure it clears the orb. Then give it a nice Gaussian Blur with a radius of 5% then a Motion Blur Angle 0 deg, and Distance 50.

And you’re done

Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines.

I’ve gathered a few celebrity caricatures because they are easily identifiable wherever you’re from and the masters behind these works are also celebrities in their own right.

Celebrity caricatures by John Kascht

John is among a handful of caricaturists whose work is collected by The Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. His work is included in several monographs about caricature and portraiture, notably: “The History of Caricature” and has also appeared on book covers, billboards, Broadway marquees and more than a few cocktail napkins.

John Kascht’s satirical drawings can also be found on the pages or covers of: Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Reader’s Digest, Forbes, W, Oprah, Glamour, and MAD magazine, to name a few.

Keith Richards for Entertainment Weekly

Woody Allen for Reader’s Digest

Whoopi Goldberg for The National Portrait Gallery

Joni Mitchell for Rolling Stone

Jack Nicholson for GQ

Jay-z for Entertainment Weekly

Eminem for Entertainment Weekly

Daniel Radcliff for Entertainment Weekly

The Beatles for Entertainment Weekly

If you are hungry for more of John Kascht’s creations head over to his website johnkascht.com or bring him along anytime and anywhere you want to go with “Above & Beyond: John Kascht” app available on iTunes!

If you think that was awesome, sit back because there’s more! I just can’t let you go wandering off without seeing the rest of what the internet has to offer.

More celebrity caricatures from around the web!

Mr. Bean by mazhear

James Hetfield by Steveroberts

Dr. Gregory House by macpulenta

Dr. Jones by crisdelara04

Meryl Streep by Nelson Santos

Clint Eastwood by fillengroovy

Bruce Lee by AndrewMok

Agent Smith by mazhear

Joan Jett by Nelson Santos

Inglorious Basterds by Nelson Santos

Jeremy Saunders has 9 years worth of Key Art experience under his belt and I would like to take this opportunity to share some of them with all of you. But first what is “Key Art”?

A little bit of history

Movie posters have been and still is a big part of the industry since the earliest public exhibitions of films. What began as placards listing the programme of (short) films to be shown inside the hall or movie theater in the early 1900s evolved to featuring illustrations of scenes from each individual film or an array of overlaid images from several scenes. Other movie posters have used artistic interpretations of a scene or even the theme of the film, represented in a wide variety of artistic styles.

What is KEY ART?

Key art is a film poster used to advertise a film. It will be what the viewer remembers about the film long after the film’s original release date. There may also be several versions for one film, with variations in regards to size, content and country of production of the poster. It usually contains an image, or multiple images, composed to tell the story of the film. The titles are often designed to go with the artwork and often the names of the main actors are designed, as well. It might also include a tag line, billing block and contractual logos.

Key art can also be used to advertise a television show. Much of network advertising’s main artwork is known as key art and is used for advertising on web sites, billboards, magazines, city buses, bus shelters and banners. (Source – joseph-rey.com)

And now without further ado, here’s Johnny!

Burning Man

BURNING MAN is the reckless, sexy, funny, moving and ultimately life-affirming story of Tom, a British chef in a Bondi restaurant, who seems to have decided there are no longer any rules he needs to obey. Whatever Tom is up to, his actions seem to be tolerated by those around him.

As Tom descends into darkness, fragments of a different story begin to emerge. All the women in his world are trying in their own, very different ways to help put him back together.

Starring: Matthew Goode, Bojana Novakovic, Essie Davis, Kerry Fox, Rachel Griffiths (Source)

Che

Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline. Part One is entitled The Argentine and focuses on the Cuban revolution from the landing of Fidel Castro, Guevara, and other revolutionaries on Cuba to their successful toppling of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista two years later. Part Two is entitled Guerrilla and focuses on Guevara’s attempt to bring revolution to Bolivia and his demise. Both parts are shot in a cinéma vérité style, but each has different approaches to linear narrative, camerawork, and the visual look. (Source)

We Don’t Live Here Anymore

We Don’t Live Here Anymore is a 2004 drama film directed by John Curran. It is based on the short stories We Don’t Live Here Anymore and Adultery by Andre Dubus. (Source)

Here I Am

Karen is a beautiful woman with a dark past, but she’s got potential and she knows it. Upon her release from prison she realises the hardest person to forgive is herself. (Source)

Animal Kingdom

ANIMAL KINGDOM is a powerful crime drama exploring the tense battle between a criminal family and the police, and the ordinary lives caught in the middle.

Starring BEN MENDELSOHN, JOEL EDGERTON and GUY PEARCE, LUKE FORD, JACKI WEAVER, SULLIVAN STAPLETON and introducing JAMES FRECHEVILLE. (Source)

Antichrist

A grieving couple retreat to ’Eden’, their isolated cabin in the woods, where they hope to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse…

Starring: Willem Dafoe & Charlotte Gainsbourg (Source)

Beautiful

Searing and luscious, BEAUTIFUL tells the story of Daniel, a shy and introverted 14 year old boy residing in Sunshine Hills, a suburb living in the grip of fear following the rumoured abductions of three teenage girls. Daniel’s two main obsessions are photography and Suzy, a 17 year old Lolita, a dangerous combination of youth and sexuality. But what starts out as an innocent summer holiday becomes anything but, and they’re drawn into a web of seduction, murder and deceit, from childhood fantasy and into the harsh reality of the real world… (Source)

Lucky Country

1902….the Australian Federation is a year old. Twelve year-old Tom’s beloved father, Nat, has dragged him and his sister, Sarah, to an isolated farm at the edge of the woods. But Nat’s dream of living off the land has died and he is losing his grip on sanity. When three ex-soldiers arrive at their cabin one night Tom, like his father, believes they are providence. But their presence becomes more menacing when one of them reveals a secret: he’s found gold. As the lure of gold infects everyone around him the cabin becomes a psychological battleground in which Tom’s loyalty is put to the ultimate test. (Source)

The White Ribbon

A village in Protestant northern Germany. 1913-1914. On the eve of World War I. The story of the children and teenagers of the choir run by the village schoolteacher, and their families: the baron, the steward, the pastor, the doctor, the midwife, the tenant farmers. Strange accidents occur and gradually take on the character of a punishment ritual. Who is behind it all? (Source)

Candy

A poet named Dan (Heath Ledger) falls in love with an art student named Candy (Abbie Cornish) who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle – and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair. (Source)

Suburban Mayhem

Katrina (Emily Barclay) is a 19-year-old single mum who’s planning to get away with murder. Katrina lives in a world of petty crime, fast cars, manicures and blow-jobs. A master manipulator of men living at home with her father in suburban Golden Grove, Katrina will stop at nothing to get what she wants – even murder. When her father threatens to contact social services and take away her child, Katrina sets in motion a plan to wreak suburban mayhem that will leave a community in shock and make Katrina infamous in a way even she never dreamed of. (Source)

Good Night, and Good Luck

Good Night, and Good Luck. is set in 1953, during the early days of television broadcast journalism. Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and his dedicated staff—headed by his co-producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) and reporter Joseph Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.) in the CBS newsroom—defy corporate and sponsorship pressures, and discredit the tactics used by Joseph McCarthy during his crusade to root out Communist elements within the government. (Source)

The Motorcycle Diaries

In 1952, a semester before Ernesto “Fuser” Guevara is due to complete his medical degree, he and his older friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist, leave Buenos Aires in order to travel across South America. While there is a goal at the end of their journey – they intend to work in a leper colony in Peru – the main purpose is initially fun and adventure. They desire to see as much of Latin America as they can, more than 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) in just four and a half months, while Granado’s purpose is also to court as many women as will fall for his pick-up lines. Their initial method of transport is Granado’s dilapidated Norton 500 motorcycle christened La Poderosa (“The Mighty One”). (Source)

Related readings:

Key Art – The Art of The Process

50 Beautiful Movie Posters

Movie Poster Gallery

Key Art Designs

Where to find Jeremy Saunders on the web

Website: jeremysaunders.com

Blog: Jeremy’s Blog

Social Networks: Twitter, Facebook

He was cool enough to sit down with Prodigal Concepts over digital coffee and it’s a treat I’m sharing with all of you a short Q&A with Jirka Väätäinen.

Q: Can you give us a brief bio of how you got into design?

Ever since I was a little kid, I have always done a lot of arts related stuff. Being creative and designing is what I am most passionate about, so it was a natural choice for me to get a higher education degree in design and turn my interests into a career.

Q: And who were your inspirations if you have any? People you look up to for inspiration?

There are so many talented people, and so much inspiring stuff out there that I don’t think I can just name a few people! Different people have inspired me at different times.

Snow White – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Q: Aside from your creative imagination where do you go to or what do use to stimulate creativity?

I draw inspiration from all areas of design and visual culture, whether it is movies, fashion, photography, graphic design or so on. So give me anything visual really, and I am good to go!

Princess Aurora – The Sleeping Beauty

Cinderella

Ariel – The Little Mermaid

Q: What was your creative design process while working on the Disney characters?

The design process has been very casual, since the project was self-initiated and it was just something I explored for fun. Being familiar with all the characters and having a clear idea on what I was looking to portray, the process has simply involved finding appropriate inspiration from real life people and photos, and then just working towards achieving my vision in photoshop!

Ursula the Sea Witch – The Little Mermaid

Belle – Beauty and the Beast

Meg – Hercules

Q: Can you share with us (*aspiring creatives) some words of wisdom on how we could harness our creativity and standout from the multitudes of creatives out there?

I would just suggest everyone to have fun and find out what the things are that you genuinely enjoy doing – since after all, standing out will require you to do your own thing!

Jasmine – Aladdin

Esmeralda – The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Pocahontas

Mulan

Rapunzel – Tangled

Tiana – Princess and the Frog

I hope you guys enjoyed this post as I have enjoyed working on it, be sure to share it with your friends. And I would like to thank Mr. Jirka Väätäinen who has been generous enough to share his time and his work with us today.

Where to find Jirka Väätäinen on the web

Portfolio: @Behance.net

Blog: Jirka’s Blog

Social Networks: Twitter, LinkedIn

That being said let’s get down to business.

What we will be making

What we need for this project:

• Castle from imageafter.com
• Hot air balloon from pixmac.com
• RA2 Kirov from cncguild.net StoneDragon.jpg from EA forums
• Elephant from pixmac.com
• PSD file from the skyscape tutorial

“Previously on Prodigal Concepts” we found and used this landscape stock image that we got from pixmac.com

and with the help of Photoshop we duplicated, flipped and cloned parts of the image to make it look like one single shot that would fit nicely in our 2560px work area so that we could finally have this

after that we populated the heavens with stars, planets, clouds and colorful gasses.

So finally we are almost at the end of our journey and moving on to the last stages of our composition. But before we continue make sure you group the previous layers accordingly “landscape” and “skyscape” you can do this by selecting the layers you want to group together then drag them to the folder looking icon at the bottom of the layers panel.

Update the water reflection

Now check out the reflection of the sky and mountain on our body of water. It’s not the same sky right? So first thing we will do is take care of that problem.

If you have your “Ninth Planet” .PSD file open. Create a new layer at the very top of the layers panel and rename it “reflection-sky” then simply Select All or Ctrl + A and make a copy of the entire file or merged layers Ctrl + Shift + C then paste it Ctrl + V to the “reflection-sky” layer we’ve just created, this will be the first layer on the third group which we will call “realm”.

Flip the “reflection-sky” layer image vertically Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical, then reduce the Opacity to around 50% or less so we can see through the image. Start moving it downwards Shift + Down Arrow until the mountain edges of the reflections align, it’s not going to be perfect so just try the closest you can get.

Now let’s add a layer mask to “reflection-sky” layer and with a soft brush tool, brush off all the excess areas that is not part of the water reflection. Use the Blending Mode “Stroke” to help you trim the edges, like what we did for the sky of the original background in the “skyscape” tutorial. Don’t hesitate to zoom in if you need to. Turn Opacity back to 100% when you’re done masking.

Apply Filter Effects

Our “reflection-sky” layer desperately needs some texture. To give it that ripples effect, like there’s a very light breeze running over it. We will add some “Smart Filters” to create this effect, Smart Filters is a non destructive way to add a filter to your images. It will help us preserve the quality of the original image and will give us the option to make adjustments to the filter settings later when we need to. So while the “reflection-sky” layer is still selected go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters, then click OK. Our layer is now converted to a “Smart Object”.

Now go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Sprayed Strokes and make the following adjustments.

Next lets give it some “Plastic Wrap” filter, go to Filter > Artistic > Plastic Wrap and use the following settings.

For an extra touch add Filter > Blur > Motion Blur, set Angle: 0 and Distance: 2

You should have something similar to this.

Adding details

Now for the fun part, placing the last elements that would finally complete this project. If you guys haven’t done so, you may begin downloading the required stock photos and extract the images from their backgrounds I suggest starting with the “Castle” photo.

Castle

Place the isolated copy of “Castle” photo on our working file, make sure it’s at the top most layer rename the layer “Castle”. Reduce it’s size a bit, I suggest 18% – 20%, and place it on the right hand side just by the edge of our lake.

Lets tweak it a bit, click on the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” button, select “Curves…” click OK then clip it to the “Castle” layer (hold ALT then click on the line between the two layers) open “Curves…” again (double click on the adjustment layer) and try to match these settings.

It doesn’t have to perfect. Your monitor might show a different result anyway so use your judgement here. Click OK. What we are trying to achieve is to make it blend with our background’s exposure.

OK now zoom in near the bottom of the “Castle”, notice the way I cut it out of the background left it with some really sharp edges that doesn’t look nice. For this grab your Smudge Tool (R), but if you placed your “Castle” image the same way I did which is File > Place… (location of the image) chances are your “Castle” layer is in “Smart Object” state. Right click on it first and then select Rasterize Layer now it’s just a regular image and ready for our Smudge Tool (R).

By the way before you click on Smudge Tool (R) make sure your Brush (B) tip is set to Soft Round use the Brackets [ ] keys to increase or decrease the brush tip whenever necessary.

Start smudging, try to stay close to the edge and smudge away. Maintain random strokes and spaces. Spot the difference? After smudging the bottom edge looks more blended to the ground.

Duplicate the “Castle” layer (don’t forget to include the curve adjustment layer.) Select both layer copies “Castle-copy” and “adjustment layer-copy” then Right Click > Merge Layers rename it “Castle-ref” and drag it below the original “Castle” layer.

Now flip it vertically, Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical and move it down, Shift + Down Arrow right before a gap shows between your two images.

Then repeat the steps we made in “Apply Filter Effects”. Add a Layer-Mask so we can Brush off excess of the reflection that’s not touching the water. Like the left part of the “Castle-ref”.

Do the same for the rest of our images. Unless they’re not supposed to be seen from the reflection on our “Lake”.

I will be placing a couple of elephants on the field, I will give some shadows with the help of brushes and the elephants outline selection.

The hot air balloons will be on the top left hand side. I gave it a dash of clouds from the “cloud” brush pack by JavierZhX, we’ve downloaded from deviantart that we used on the second part of this tutorial.

The rest is just some last minute changes, I went back to the “skyscape” group and using a large soft brush I dabbed on the top most left hand side. Using yellow, purple and green respectively. Gave it a Blending Mode: Overlay, and Opacity: 90%.

After my new year wallpaper tutorial I’ve decided to give this final piece some Optic Flare effects for extra character, that you can get from psdbox.com’s optic flares. Since I’m still in the “skyscape” group folder anyway I figure it’s a good time to include these effects.

And finally we’re done

Finishing touches: Ctrl + (N) a new layer, then get your “Gradient Tool” and set the Foreground color to #5e758c and the Background color to #165a9e now drag it across diagonally starting from the bottom right ending at the top left corner. Set the Blending Mode: Soft Light to give it a more dreamy feel.

Concluded: Part 3 of 3

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A Happy New Year to all the readers and visitors of Prodigal Concepts. I wish you all the best this coming year as we are ushered into the year of the Dragon – 2012.

The holidays are blurring out, (but the holiday weight seems to be staying longer than necessary) and before we all move on to the challenges of the coming year let us go with a bang and celebrate one last time with an out of this world wallpaper tutorial.

What we will be making

What we need

Font
Federation Font from Legacy of Defeat

Textures

Stainless from Photo Bucket

Concrete from deviantart.com

Grunge tile from Lost and Taken

Optic flares

The genius behind psdbox.com came up with some out of this world optic flares that you may find really useful in your future projects get it here.

Nebula
For the second time we will be calling on the Nebula which we are borrowing again from the uber awesome tutorial of Patrick Monkel Making a Superhero Movie Teaser Poster from wegraphics.net. Last used here on A photo manipulation tutorial, skyscape – The Ninth Planet

Set the stage

Open Photoshop and create a new document Ctrl + Shift + (N), make it 1280 x 800 pixels. Name it whatever you like, I’m going to call mine “2012 wallpaper”

Create the mood

Start with a new layer Ctrl + (N) and call it “background”, then set your foreground color to #797978 and your background color to #1a1a1a. Take your Gradient Tool (G) and from the gradient picker choose Foreground to Background and set style to Radial Gradient.

Drag your mouse from the center going diagonal to the lower right hand corner.

Create another layer Ctrl + (N) and call it “gradient-light”, set your foreground color to #c6c05c and the background color to #05394e. Keep the rest as it is and drag your mouse like before. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay.

Mystify the background

Ctrl + (N) a new layer and call it “cloud”, set your foreground color to #835d2c and the background color to #261501. Go to Filter > Render > Clouds, set Blending Mode to Overlay. You should get something like this.

Make another layer call it “gradient-blue” and set your foreground color to #698aab and the background color to #1a5c9f. Get your Gradient Tool (G) and set style to Linear Gradient. Drag it across your stage from top left diagonally to your bottom right. Set Blending Mode to Multiply.

Time to get our “bw-nebula” image out, just go to File > Place (navigate to the location of the bw-nebula image) then click Place. Make sure it’s centered, now we will Edit > Transform > Rotate 180° and change the Blending Mode to Screen.

Add another layer and name it “4gradients”, then get your Gradient Tool (G) from the Tools Palette and click on the gradient picker, the gradient editor window should pop up. Choose a 4 colored gradient then replace each color from left to right with something like Blue (or Cyan), Green, Yellow, Red.

Now starting from the top left drag it across diagonally to the bottom right. And set the Blending Mode to Overlay.

And on the 7th layer we almost rested… but not, because we will make one final layer for the background and call it “light-effects” fill this layer with #ffffff, then go to Filter > Render > Light Effects. Change style to RGB Lights, and set Intensity to 60 and Focus to 96 click OK. Go back to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur give it a Radius of 100% then set the Blending Mode to Overlay and reduce the Opacity to 75%.

Type treatment

Take your Type Tool and set the font family to the Federation font we downloaded from “Legacy of Defeat”. Set your font size to 130px and font tracking to 100.

Since it’s just a couple of days till the year ends why don’t we welcome the coming year by typing

Turn this into a selection, Ctrl + click on the type layer, then go to Select > Modify > Expand (Expand by: 5px). Now create a layer below the type and name it “outline” fill your selection with white. Temporarily hide the type layer by poking the eye on the left of the layer.

Go to Blending Options and set the following settings:

Drop Shadow > Blend Mode: Multiply, Opacity: 75%, Angle: 45°, Distance: 20px, Size: 10px

Inner Glow > Blend Mode: Screen, Color: White

Bevel and Emboss > Style: Inner Bevel, Technique: Smooth, Depth: 100%, Size: 25px, Soften: 10px, Angle: 45°,

Color Overlay > Blend Mode: Screen, Color: #3f464d

Stroke > Size: 1px, Position: Outside, Color: #dddddd

Place the Grunge tile texture above the “outline” layer and make sure the entire selection is covered now clip it to the outline by using Alt + click between the two layers. Add an Adjustment Layer – Brightness and Contrast then clip this to the Grunge tile texture and give it a -75 Brightness and -24 Contrast.

Unhide the type layer, and set the following

Blending Options > Drop Shadow > Distance: 21px, Size: 21px, Angle: 45°

Then place the Stainless texture above this type layer and clip it.

Blending Options > Color Overlay > Blend Mode: Soft Light, Color:#001d29

Do the same for the Concrete texture after placing it above the Stainless texture, clip it then set the Blend Mode to Overlay.

Group this set and call it “content”.

Give it some POW!

On a new layer with your Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) draw a very thin ellipse, I made mine around 206 x 19 pixels, deselect then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur Set Angle to 0° and Distance to 90px click OK. Duplicate this layer then Edit > Transform > Rotate 90°, duplicate this layer then rotate 45° to the left.

Shrink the last copy to around 40% and the first copy to 60%. Group them together and name the group “glint” now duplicate this group 6 times (or more) and place them randomly on our content somewhere around the edges of the type layer.

And finally, place some of psdbox.com‘s Optic Flare effects, I will be using Optical-4b and Optical-8c. Just set the flares Blending Mode to Screen and drag it to where you feel it could give the optimum effect. Play with it until you are satisfied.

That’s it I hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial and be sure to share it.

A very Happy New Year to everyone!

May this coming year bring us all closer to our dreams, woot, woot, woot.

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Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features.

Art Deco is based on mathematical geometric shapes. It was widely considered to be an eclectic form of elegant and stylish modernism, being influenced by a variety of sources.

Michael Myer’s (a.k.a. drawsgood) illustration’s falls nothing short of awesome. I first got a whiff of his genius when he did an illustrated series of the characters from the T.V. series “LOST”, immediately I became an instant fan and I’ve been stalking him ever since.

Today I bring to you his rendition of DC heroes and villains (note: actually it’s just one villain but I’m looking forward to more and will update this post when Michael is ready with them. ) He creates them in the styles of modern art deco minimalists which caught my fancy this last couple of years. I’ve been seeing them around a lot lately, mostly cult classics of movies or TV and comic book characters. The layout is simple, the color is flat, the font is classic, the texture is vintage or grunge the impact is jaw dropping, well at least for me it is. But I’m hoping to convert some of you today with the help “drawsgood” himself.

Check them out and enjoy! And may you find inspiration in these masterful works of art by Michael Myers!

DC Heroes

Superman

Batman

Robin

Wonder Woman

Aquaman

Flash

Green Lantern

“as featured in Green Lantern in 30 graphic inspirations”

Green Arrow

DC Villains

This is the only DC villain Michael has illustrated so far, but I’m sure he’s working on something and when he’s done we’ll post them here. Besides Lex Luthor is all the super villain you need! He’s a genius, unforgiving, conniving, sneaky, rich, no one knows what he’ll be up to next.

Lex Luthor

One day I will have one of this framed and adorn the walls of my personal office, but for now I’m happy just to be able to check them out from time to time.

If you like Michael Myers creations you may purchase a print copy at imagekind.com or make a statement with his wearable artwork as shirts at threadless.com

Find Michael Myers on the web

Website: www.drawsgood.com

Blog: Drawsgood Illustration and Design Blog

Portfolio: Deviantart, Bēhance, Society6

Social Network: Twitter, Facebook, Linked

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com inspirations…

Enter the young up and comer Ian Jasper Reyes from Tarlac City, Philippines. Fresh out of college, he pursued his love of challenges for creating surreal photo manipulations with very impressive results. His humble beginnings started out by playing around with small scale TAGS and SIGS just for his personal amusement. He eventually started joining contests which helped secure his confidence with his work while he gradually pushed the envelop for a larger work canvas. Ian Jasper *slash Vinc found inspiration from the works of other artists on deviantart.com and wowmagz.com to name a few.

Currently focusing his artistry on his brand new passion for large dimension digital canvasses he proved time and time again that he can overcome it’s downside, like how frustrating it can sometime gets to fill it up with elements that would mesh nicely together. But Vinc seems to be doing this pretty well. And we are featuring him here at prodigalconcepts.com because we acknowledge that skills and talent knows no age, and if you happen to have found your calling early you will just keep getting better and better. Ian Jasper or Vinc clearly proves this to be true.

Enjoy “the Vinc’s” imaginative renditions

Wandering

Somewhat

Sky High II

Replace

In the Air

Mountaincold

Habitat

The Floating Idea

Approaching

Derived

Clouds

Close Enough

Where to find Ian Jasper Reyes on the web

Website: vincgfx

Social Network: facebook

Affiliations: DistortedPixel, pinoyrepublic.org

Ian Jasper Reyes also works as a design and technical freelancer if you find yourself in need of his services you may get in touch with him directly at his website. Thank you!

It was just another ordinary day at Prodigal Concepts but with an itsy, bitsy, teeny weeny little update. One of my articles just got published in www.photoshopmag.net Woohooo! Thanks guys.

photoshopmag.net is web magazine from Poland that focuses on design and all things Photoshop.

The article of note was the one I wrote last March 20, I called “How to Make Party Balloons in Photoshop Tutorial”, well the title says it all so if you ever wondered how to spice up an invite or a poster or a website with a nice looking balloon then check out this tutorial. You now have 2 places you can go to so enjoy. And as Bert Monroy always says, “it’s not work, it’s play”. Come back often to view the latest articles on Prodigal Concepts Dot Com.