Our sister site, ThemeLabs, opened a new affiliates system and is offering a generous and high commissions of 50% over any purchase made by any user referred by you. This kind of sites usually gives low commissions but since our expenses are low we want to share with everyone half of our incomes. It’s free to participate in this affiliates program. Just register and start referring people.

ThemeLabs will be adding several new premium wordpress themes this year. All you need is a PayPal account to receive your money. ThemeLabs pays on 15th of each month doesn’t matter the amount.

PhotoBleep did a radical change on its services and re-launched the website with a cool service: Photography projects contests (also know as challenge or assignments). Anyone can register for free and submit photos. If your photo is on the first 3 places, then you will win a cash award.

The cash prizes are calculated by sharing the 40% of the sponsors incomes, so they can become big. The first project is online now and is called “Enter The Game” in the lifestyle category. Everyone is welcome to become part of this new cool service and participate in all projects!

There are several companies and individuals on the internet that sells high resolution textures and it’s usual that they cost big money, but when the budget is low we need to start searching for alternatives. Finding free textures isn’t easy, and even with the resolution of today’s cameras the free textures out there are just of very bad quality. But today I want to share a nice resource where you can find high quality textures for free and you’ll be able to download them without any registration.

According to the few file’s info and EXIF information, the textures from the site High Resolution Textures are created using a Canon EOS 400D, a pretty nice digital camera in the prosumer market.

There are many very nice textures to choose from. This is a resource that must have a place in our bookmark.

Icons are one of the most important but disesteemed part of a website and/or an application. You know where to quickly click when you see a graphically descriptive icon in the right place. Sometimes developers opt for just search a term on Google images and then grab/copy an icon. Other developers opt for the expensive solution and hires a graphic designer to create the icons, but what if you can get hundreds of high quality icons for free? That’s exactly what you can get on ICONS etc.

You can get a compressed ZIP file for the icons group you need without any registration. The compressed files has lot of icons in PNG format with transparency, which is perfect for almost any design work.

It is undeniable that one of the most important element in a successful graphic design has something to do with the font type you use to spread the message and sometimes, when you need to find the right fonts you don’t have it on your local system. Here is where AllMyFonts comes to help you. With more than 128,000 free fonts in TTF format, AllMyFonts.com is one of the biggest fonts resource you can find on the net.

AllMyFonts service started few months ago as a personal project to organize those 128,000 fonts, then the site gone online but in a few days our shared hosting service deactivated it due to the high load. The site then has been removed and after few months of code optimization and caching it’s online again on a big server that guarantees an efficient and fluid service.

AllMyFonts bring you an excellent preview system where you can type any text for a given font to see how it looks. Downloads are completely free without registration of any kind. We also offer a search engine to browse all the fonts.

Note two important things. One is that AllMyFonts is on heavy work at this time, we are classifying in categories all those fonts and the other thing is that AllMyFonts is part of our site’s network. Despite these two details, I think that it perfectly fits to have a post here because its free nature and its graphic related service.

We hope that you enjoy and have fun using this big and great resource considering the very big work that we put on the site’s engine code and the hardware resources needed for this site to work properly.

What about a website that offers tons of graphic related resources? ShareCG is one of them, with thousands of resources in categories like tutorials, 3d models, materials, textures, animations, software, plugins, photography, poser stuff among others. All these resources for absolutely free and uploaded by their authors.

You must register to be able to download, but it’s worth the extra time registering if you can put your hands on so many wonderful resources.

First… what is HDR Photography? In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wide dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.

Anyone with a “bracketing” capable camera can capture an HDR photo. Usually we shot the same photo with different shutter speed configurations, then via software we merge all the images. Doing this we can get interesting effects, add realism or just exaggerate  some settings to obtain a surrealistic shot.

DPReview.com has a very nice and technical article called The Art of HDR Photography Part 1 written by the photographer Uwe Steinmueller. If you want to know about Dynamic Range for HDR photos, then this article will be interesting for you.

I think that this technique is very interesting and you must shot using bracketing mode when you can, the result is stunning!

The folks at Gizmodo published 124 photographies for a new challenge: Frozen Ice. There are, without any doubt, some fantastic photos form landscape to spectacular and intriguing macro shots. The goog news for amateur photographers is that each photo has technical details like camera used, aperture, lens used, filters, etc. so you can have an idea of what was needed for that pretty ice shot.

You can view the complete gallery at the Gizmodo website.

The photo we used here in the article is from Nichi Tonsberg and this is the description: Here in Denmark we are having a really cold winter and the fjord which i live close to have been frozen, but warmer weather and alot of wind created these 2-3m high ice structures. I think the sun got some nice contrasts in the scene. Shot with an Olympus E-620 standard kit-lens 14-42mm , did a bit of contrast enhancement in photoshop. Iso 100, F3.5, 1/800.

Ballistic Publishing is proud to announce EXPOSÉ 9, the ninth edition of the premier annual artbook celebrating the creative talents of digital artists worldwide. EXPOSÉ is the digital art industry’s premier annual publication, featuring the finest digital artwork the world has ever seen.

Ballistic Publishing is now calling on artists to submit digital images for consideration in EXPOSÉ 9. Images can be created in any 3D or digital illustration application. Photoshop and digitally manipulated photography is also welcome. We are interested in digitally-created fine art, whether it be 2D or 3D, for commercial use, or personal satisfaction.

There is no cost or limit to enter work for inclusion in EXPOSÉ 9. As with all Ballistic Publishing showcase publications, artists with work published in EXPOSÉ 9 will receive a complementary copy of the book and will enjoy worldwide exposure in the premier collection of digitally-created artwork to ever be published.

You’ll have until February 28, 2011 to submit your digital artwork. Good Luck to submitters!

…”EXPOSÉ series of book are the industry’s first annual art book celebrating the creative talents of digital artists worldwide. It grew to be a global success receiving critical acclaim from all quarters of the digital art industry. Selected by a panel of industry leaders these books showcases the finest digital artwork in the known universe…”

free-PSD is a website that offers awesome templates in PSD format for absolutely free with the only condition to put a link back to their site, pretty fair considering the high quality of the templates offered.

No registration required to download any file. The PSD files are of very high quality in a professional grade and they are even sliced so you can save as separated images to build and customize your own variation of any template.

The templates can be found at free-PSD.com and they are well organized in “colors” categories. Just be sure to browse their template archive in the “free pdf templates” menu at the top right sidebar.

Just few examples of what they offer:

Free is good and better yet when the freebies are of high quality. Searching the web I found a website with a great collection of 105 logos and they offer free PSD sources with the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License. There are some very nice logos that can inspire you for any design.

The site Shaboopie is the today’s star for offering such great free resource with direct downloads links.

Here is a small preview of these beautiful logos:

Hope you enjoy this resource.

When it comes to free resources is very difficult to find something of high quality, not impossible, but hard to find. FreePSDFiles.net is one of those resources that when found you’ll be visiting over and over again. Why? Because they offer free PSD files that will make you happy. FreePSDFiles.net carries lot of graphics, all of them available for free (no registration required, thank you) and the best of all is that any file is in native PSD Photoshop format.

Categories are, among others, 3D renders, backgrounds, buttons, icons, illustrations, objects, site templates, textures, web elements and many others.

A very clean and friendly web design makes this site a pleasure to browse. Each image includes a short description and vital file info like resolution, file format, file size, item in the set, author and the obvious download button.

Very recommended resource for designers and graphic artists.

But now doing a practice of humor we can see how the iPad can “really” replace the newspaper. The following video is a TV spot from Newsday.com services and they did an hilarious work with this spot.

Today, SmashingShare in association with Recave looks at the work of Lou Simeone, a talented illustrator.

About Lou Simeone

Lou’s illustrations evoke the kind of wit and whimsy that is universally appealing to a variety of audiences. A professional illustrator with a BFA from William Paterson University in New Jersey, Lou brings a dynamic flair to my illustration work through a fluid use of line and skillful handling of color.

Lou has been working in the field of communication arts for close to twenty years. If you need an illustrator for logos, greeting cards, character design, magazine cover or editorial illustrations, children’s picture book illustrations, advertising illustrations or wish to discuss any other illustration project coming up, contact Lou.

Lou’s Facebook Page

Illustration Round Up

Ho Ho Ho Ho!

Look who’s here ready to give away these amazing WordPress E-commerce Themes. Tokokoo at your service. A group of professional designers with many a year experience in working with WordPress, is ready to give you your long yearned Christmas presents: 3 bundles of 3 Premium E-Commerce WordPress Themes in each bundle.

Check out their Twitter, Facebook, and website to know more about them.

1. AppCloud

A 960 grid system theme with sleek tones of blue, white and a bit gray. Points out the gadgets and more usability so users can obtain information they need faster and more easily.

Theme detail page
Live demo

2. Kelontong

The dark Mac style online store for application sites. This theme gives yourself a break you don’t have to understand any codes to modify your store, while you can sell more of your products

Theme detail page
Live demo

3.  Bangkoo

Bangkoo is a WordPress e-commerce theme for online furniture and home products stores. Using this theme you can remarkably sell any of your used/new tables, sofas, chairs, beds, home decorations, fancy gifts and more.

Theme detail page
Live demo

4. Disco

A breathtaking and hip theme you can use for your DJ music showcase packaged with WordPress e-commerce plugin.

Theme detail page
Live demo

5. DangDoot

DangDoot is suitable mostly for major/indie music recording companies, bands, musicians, music products affiliates, music event organizers or simply online music stores.

Theme detail page
Live demo

6. Kakileema

If you want to sell cool apparels like t-shirts, caps and any other youngster-styled fashion thingies, this is the perfect theme for your online store.

Theme detail page
Live demo

Ready to find out how you can get them?

• Go to Tokokoo website, and pick out the theme you like best.
• Tell us here which one do you like best and why you chose it before December 31, 2010 00:00 CET. Don’t forget to mention your Twitter ID and valid email address.
• Follow Tokokoo’s Twitter to get their latest update and promotions
• That is all. Hey it’s Christmas, everything should be done in the simplest and most fun way.

Here’s how the winners will be chosen:

• There will be six (3) random comments to get our 3 bundles selected on December 31, 2010
• Make sure you’ve provide your Twitter ID and email address correctly, that way we can easily contact you to give you your Christmas present.
• We only accept one comment per email address. Using the same email address for multiple commenting will not be considered.
• Don’t forget to share this news to your friends via Twitter, for example: Get a free bundle of Premium #WordPress e-commerce themes for FREE only on @smashingshare. Follow @tokokoo now http://bit.ly/f1YIVZ
  

Ho ho ho ho!

Recently we were searching the web for an illustrator to create an illustration for us. Petshopbox Studio produced an amazing illustration for smashingshare, quickly and exactly as described. Today, we look at the company Petshopbox Studio, offering awesome illustration services.

Petshopbox Studio

Petshopbox Studio is illustration studio based in Bandung, Indonesia. Established in 2001 as comic studio, we were managed to create 13 comic titles for Indonesian market. Based on market demand and industry situation, we decided to broaden our business scope. Now, we’re specialized on creating game assets, character design and icon design. We’re on process of developing our own character and icon design retail.

Illustration Examples

Today, SmashingShare reviews the work of Justin Maller, a creative freelancer and art director.

About Justin

Justin Maller is a freelance illustrator and art director based in Melbourne, Australia. He has been creating digital art for over eight years, and has produced professionally in both a private and studio based capacity for the last three. He is represented by Jeremy Wortsman of the Jacky Winter Group.

Justin has had the pleasure of producing illustrations and concept art for a diverse array of companies and publications worldwide, and enjoys a cordial collaborative relationship with several prestigious international design studios. Work aside, he is an inner core member of the Keystone Design Union, an avid sneaker collector, occassional tweeter, and a mild force of nature on the basketball court. Justin is also the Creative Director of The Depthcore Collective, an international modern art collective established in June 2002. This role sees him direct and interact with many of the worlds most talented and prodigious young artists, musicians and designers as they illustrate and orchestrate the thoughts, hope and dreams of all corners of the globe.

Category: Music

Tour Poster

Illustration

Album Artwork for Skye Harbour

Album Artwork for GirlTalk

Press Shot for MC Pez

Press Shot for Bliss N Eso

Album Artwork for X&Hell

Category: Fashion

Crooks and Castles

Illustration for Rich Soil Clothing

Fashion Portraits

Of Ground

The Wait

Illustration and Concept Art

Illustration for Dsevo Exhibition

Category: Personal Projects

All Images are Copyright Justin Maller

In the final post on Jolby, SmashingShare looks at awesome artwork by talented Josh and Colby from Jolby.

After meeting in design school at the Art Institutes, Josh Kenyon and Colby Nichols began their design careers in their hometown of San Diego. As their lives and careers progressed they found themselves in two very separate cities: Josh in Chicago and Colby in Portland. Though it would seem the distance would end their creative alliance, the two found new ways to co-produce, proving they may possibly share the same brain. Jolby combines their talents through Colby’s artistic obsession with creatures and shapes and Josh’s creative love for pattern and texture. In 2009, Josh moved to Portland, OR bringing the two artists together to collaborate in the same city for the first time.

SmashingShare looks at print artwork by talented Josh and Colby from Jolby.

After meeting in design school at the Art Institutes, Josh Kenyon and Colby Nichols began their design careers in their hometown of San Diego. As their lives and careers progressed they found themselves in two very separate cities: Josh in Chicago and Colby in Portland. Though it would seem the distance would end their creative alliance, the two found new ways to co-produce, proving they may possibly share the same brain. Jolby combines their talents through Colby’s artistic obsession with creatures and shapes and Josh’s creative love for pattern and texture. In 2009, Josh moved to Portland, OR bringing the two artists together to collaborate in the same city for the first time.

SmashingShare presents a round up of free inspirational art, photography and illustration wallpapers by Justin Maller, a creative freelancer and art director.

About Justin

Justin Maller is a freelance illustrator and art director based in Melbourne, Australia. He has been creating digital art for over eight years, and has produced professionally in both a private and studio based capacity for the last three. He is represented by Jeremy Wortsman of the Jacky Winter Group.

Download Page

All Images are Copyright Justin Maller

It’s completely free to download, just click here for the

Download Page