These tips are thought on the spot by me and some friends, and are for those who know how to use Photoshop or another program/drawing etc.


Never do fancy borders. Stick to 1-3px white/black borders, or 1-3px borders with 80% opacity, or a color that fits/compliments the piece.

Conceptualize your piece before you start it and as you work on it remember to execute your concept.

Explore your skills : try different styles and different things!

Don't always put your focal in the center.

Keep the main part of your focal uncovered.

It's sometimes okay to have no focal, like in abstract, but never have more then 1 focal!

(For you that don't know, focals are basically the first thing that one looks at when seeing your piece as their eye is attracted to it. Usually a face or a person etc.)

For those of you who know what Topaz is/use it, DO NOT OVERUSE TOPAZ. If you don't know what it is, just don't use it

When adding text, make sure it does not cover focal AND MAKE SURE THE TEXT>BACKGROUND CONTRAST ALLOWS FOR VISIBILITY OF THE TEXT!!!! VERY IMPORTANT. EXAMPLE : (Not Mine)

I know this sounds cheesy, but never give up. A lot of people request at my shop so I think of myself as much improved, but seek much more improvement. When I first started no one would have requested a signature from me in a million years, and that lasted for maybe months.


FIND INSPIRATION! Many find inspiration in other works, and people seem to love dA to find inspiration. Personally, I prefer music or poems, they always get me right going. I find listening to the words and the mood (if I told you what inspired me for each signature I made, many of them would be from same bands/artists as they have very deep lyrics, such as Tom Waits - I have probably 10 signatures based off his songs).

When someone tells you to read a tutorial, download a .psd or somehow you think they're insulting your work, 99% chances are that they're giving you C/C (Constructive Criticism) especially if they're a fellow graphic artist. We're in this together and as we're not competitors we all want to help each other. Alternately, don't insult people's work, but help them.

I DID NOT MAKE THIS GUIDE : http://akvis.com/en/photoshop-tips/save-workspace-ps.php
This can be very helpful for saving workspaces. This means your palettes such as Layers, History, and Colors boxes. Very useful.


Although 99% chance you know this, if you don't it's terrible. All I can say is if you make a mistake.... CTRL+Z or CTRL+SHIFT+Z

In Photoshop when you want to select all the pixels in one layer, goto layer box hold CTRL and click on layer image you want.



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Welcome to my quick guide to finding inspiration!


Inspiration can be found anywhere, and that is the most important thing about it. It is sometimes hard to obtain inspiration from anything. It may always be there, but sometimes it needs a little push, or you need a little push.

Although inspiration is everywhere, certain places seem to have more of a "push" level, meaning they will give you more ideas.

I recommend checking out Musicovery, a very simple musical website. With one click of the mouse, you can listen to an endless stream of music, most of which you have never heard before, all matched up with your current state of mind. You can also disable certain music types, which, however, I don't advise, because the art of inspiration usually includes finding new things. Such as the new music you've never heard before, or a genre of music you don't normally like. There are other sites like this, such as NexTune.

If you have tons of music on your computer, and iTunes, I recommend Moody by Crayonroom, which tags your music in certain moods, then you may select a mood and it plays from that.


I have always found inspiration in music, whether there are lyrics or not. Some people differ in that category, however. I recommend if you find listening to the lyrics to base your work off of, then find music with deep meaning in the lyrics. Sometimes I find music where the the music itself is not very good, but the lyrics just immediately make my head pop with new ideas.

A prime example of this is Tom Waits : many find his music and voice very annoying. I don't personally, but either way, his lyrics are very deep. You can find a stream of his music here : Deezer : Tom Waits.




Besides music, there is inspiration almost anywhere, as I mentioned. A most popular source for inspiration for graphics, is graphics themselves! Or, at least art/graphics/design/photography.

An under-visited website by the name of Intrinsic Nature is basically a source for inspiration. I guarantee by visiting there you can find inspiration in the hundreds of spotlight work they have. The website is unbiased, and features all sorts of work from paintings, abstracts, photographs, Photo Manipulations, and more! The site also features optional music while browsing, which allows for a good, quiet, instrumental background music to get your mind working, and the pause button in case you have your own music!

I'm sure by now you have all heard of Flickr. I bet you haven't heard Flickr Storm, or CompFight.

Both offer an enhanced relevancy search of Flickr which I highly recommend. I also recommend Flickr, of course. From these sites try searching something simple such as "iPod". All 3 sites will come up with different results, all of them top results by their website's standards so you're getting the best of 3 worlds.


Now I'm sure EVERYONE is aware of deviantART, perhaps one of the largest user-supported image website. If you have been on deviantART even a few times, I suppose you also know of the Daily Deviations. Well, if you don't already know if it, this is a must see. They select a reasonable number (today the number was 35) of their best Deviations, submitted by users, judged by the staff. These are some of the greatest photos out of millions of photos, so they are always good, range in style and category, and are quite often inspiring.

Another great thing about deviantART are their Random Deviation and Random Deviant buttons. These buttons only appear 2 places in the entire site, and are quite well hidden. After clicking on the link there, reloading doesn't make it random, but simply clicking on the link again will. From dA's millions of pictures and literature, your sure to soon find something that inspires you.


Now, inspiration isn't just about finding physical things that make you think. When you're designing something, whether it be a large piece, a drawing, a web design, or a tag, you have to make sure you don't get bored. So, what I usually do is play a game, talk to friends on msn, or read a book. Books/Movies are also a great way for inspiration, often from quotes to hear/read, or astounding images you see on the screen/in your head. So really, movies and books can be a great way to obtain inspiration, and keep from boredom at the same time.

I hope from these tips you found a way for you to discover your inner awesomeness ;D And I hope this will help you to create more things down the road!


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Hello, I am featuring the signature "Ricardofelix" as today's feature. The signature was not chosen for being good or bad, I just think every person should have their day, whether they need major improvements, small improvements, or none at all.

To begin, the first things that come to mind is that the focal is the soldier, shooting. This is good, and there is only 1 focal. The text might be a bit of a focal, but not too much of one, so we don't have to worry about that. To improve for the focal point, the text could be a bit smaller, but it is well blended.

A bit too well blended, in fact At first look, the first 4 letters (rica) are very hard to distinguish. The last 3 (lix) are more easily distinguishable, but still not as much as they should be. The last 3 letters are also very hard to see, especially the last 2, and that could be improved.
The problem with the first 4 letters is that the text doesn't fit in with the signature (it blends, physically, but mentally...) - if it was something like "Soldier" or "War", the letters could be as undistinguishable as that, but as it doesn't fit the signature (not that that's a bad thing) the text should be more easily read.

Aside from that, if you're using a white or black skin you may not notice it, but there is border. A simple black border, 1px, would be best here, as it would be in good contrast, and yet not take away from the tag.

The colors are in are quite good. The majority of the signature is monotone, which could possibly be fixed with some brushing, or a slight color change of the already placed C4D. Speaking of which, the C4D is beautifull placed and blended, and adds to the piece enormously (For those who cannot see, it is the effect making the abstract chaos to the right of the gun). The green and orange are neccesary to keep the tag somewhat multi-colored, as without those the entire tag would look the same, but as aforementioned more colors could be added. The main color fits the signature well, especially the soldier's camoflauge. The blending between the cC4D, brushing, and the helmet (especially the strap) could use some work, but is barely noticable.
The green, orange, and the other shade of orange are, as I mentioned, kind of like a relief to the signature. Without them the entire signature would be one brushed C4D, horribly monotone. With these in places, and blurred out so much that it is impossible to identify the original image. This effect adds to the signature, as it allows a larger color palette used, yet doesn't take away from the focal. This is key to the signature.

Now, for the main focal. At first glance you know exactly what is going on, and you can clearly see that he is shooting the gun from the effects used. A background is barely audible, between the soldier and where the gun is firing. The effects are obviously in flow with the gun, and in flow with the entire signature. The effects nearest to the firing gun are rippling the most, while the rest seems to be a solid smudge. This helps us locate (immediately) the focal.

All in all...

PROS : Good flow, focal, and effects. Good smudging.
CONS: No border, bad text, more colors could be used.


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