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Calligraphy Tutorial: How to Care for Your Tools
Learn the techniques to clean, dry, and keep your calligraphy tools in great condition with Bego Viñuela When we finish our work, the last thing we might want to do is clean our tools. However, while our work dries, we have to clean and take care of our them. Calligrapher Bego Viñuela shares how to maintain our brushes, brush pens and watercolor palettes so they last longer.
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Three Watercolor Timelapses to Boost Your Creativity
Discover different watercolor techniques in these speed painting videos Watercolor is one of the oldest illustration mediums. Almost everyone who has ever been interested in drawing and painting has practiced it. By diluting pigments in water, it is possible to create stains of enormous depth and beauty, which have been part of our cultural heritage for millennia. We share these three timelapses that will allow you to discover the work process of great creatives, or simply relax and enjoy the care and affection that they put into their strokes. Timelapse: Illustrating with Watercolor and Procreate, by Naranjalidad
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Four Initiatives to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing
If you’re experiencing creator’s block during quarantine, here are four initiatives to get your juices flowing Most creatives would agree that the best source of inspiration is to go out into the world and make observations, so what happens when you are stuck staring at the same four walls every day? If you’re experiencing creator’s block during lockdown, know that you are not alone. It’s OK to not be at the top of your game right now. This is a challenging time. So, first things first: give yourself a break. Being housebound will affect everyone in different ways–perhaps you are dealing with increased anxiety, feeling lethargic, and/or struggling to concentrate on work. You don’t have to be productive right now. But if you are itching to create and are not sure where to start, look to the creative community for support and inspiration. Right now, lots of brands and organizations are reaching out to their followers and the wider creative community to unite artists and inspire them to get started on different creative projects by setting fun tasks and launching competitions. So if you’re stuck for ideas, here are four initiatives that are sure to get your creative juices flowing.
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Discover the Dos and Don'ts of Instagram with Dot Lung
Do you want to make better use of your Instagram account to grow your following? Dot Lung, Mother of Social Media Dragons, gives us 3 Do’s and 3 Don’ts for Instagram to gain more followers and grow your social media presence Like other social networks, Instagram has become a perfect place to show our talents as creatives or promote our brand, but it is important to know the rules by which the platform is governed. To reach more people or, rather, reach those people who interest us the most: this is the obsession of many Instagram accounts. Do you want to take better advantage of your Instagram account to build a greater audience? Dot Lung (@dotlung), specialist in social networks, gives us 3 Do’s and 3 Don’ts for Instagram. Discover them in the following video:
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The Greatest Albums Covers By The Man Who Defined The Jazz Look
David Stone Martin is the album cover artist who defined how jazz looked for the greats for Astaire, Coltrane, Fitzgerald, and dozens of other jazz greats He’s the only artist who worked with Fred Astaire, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and many more jazz greats without ever recording as much as a ditty. You might now know David Stone Martin’s name, but he made it onto the cover of Time Magazine eight times. Nowadays, record collectors scour stores searching for his work, not to listen to it, but to see it. Martin is perhaps the most iconic designer of jazz record sleeves of all time. His signature hand-sketched graphics, with just one or two bright colors, epitomized the sharp energy and spontaneity of the world of jazz.
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Interview with Ji Lee, Creative Director at Facebook and Instagram
Lee explains the importance of personal projects and the power of actions over ideas Ji Lee gave us this interview to speak about how personal projects have influenced his career. Ji Lee strongly believes in the transformative power of personal projects and taking action on ideas that can feed your creativity and give life to your day to day. Lee also believes we are in the best era for creatives thanks to the democratization of technology and access to the internet. After eight years as Facebook and Instagram’s creative director, and Google’s creative director before that, Lee’s work is currently focused on helping brands and agencies create different kinds of campaigns for smartphones.
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Photoshop Tutorial: How to Flatten Your Character
Learn the steps and techniques to color your illustrations on Adobe Photoshop, with Joel Santana Where do we start coloring our new character, once we've decided on how it will look? How do we choose the right color palette to communicate its personality? How can we apply all this to its digital illustration? Character design specialist Joel Santana (@themaddhattr) shows us how to color our creations with Photoshop, using the flattening technique, in the following video tutorial:
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Domestika Maestros: Viki Ospina
A pioneer of Colombian photojournalism, her camera has captured the last 50 years of the country's history When Viki Ospina started taking photographs, being a photojournalist and a woman were almost incompatible. Still, working alongside other photographers who struggled for decades to claim their role in the world, she managed to find a place for women in this profession. Along the way, Ospina also captured all the contradictions of the recent history of Colombia through the lens of her camera. The photographer meets us in her studio to enlighten us with all her wisdom, accumulated over decades of constant work. Passionate about capturing the true essence of things, and about transmitting everything she learned throughout her extraordinary career, Ospina reviews the most important moments of her life in the following video.
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How to Transfer an Embroidery Design to Fabric with Solvent
Florula shows you her technique for transferring your embroidery designs to fabric with solvent, step by step One of the most important steps in embroidery is printing your design onto fabric. There are many ways to do it. Here, we show you one of Mexican designer and textile artist Elidé Rangel Soto’s (@florula) favorites. She specializes in embroidered lettering and always uses this technique: transfer with solvent.
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10 Artists Who Were Inspired By Their Cats
Meet the artists whose cats inspired their masterpieces From drawing to architecture, we have composed a list of ten cat-loving artists who used their felines as sources of inspiration. As all cat-lovers know, the lives of these artists were deeply connected to that of their pets: they roamed their studios, interrupted their work, and often, served as models and parts of their studio production. Edward Gorey The American illustrator Edward Gorey, famous for his macabre and dark sense of humor, said that his greatest loves were his cats. He looked after them for more than 60 years, and on his death, he gave most of his wealth to an animal care organization. In this video, animated by Benjamin and Jim Wickely, Gorey himself speaks of his love of cats.
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5 Courses to Get Your Project or Personal Brand Online
If you have an idea, share it with the world. We show you how to create a webpage from scratch and ensure your project has an online presence.
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The Path to Establishing an Independent Studio, by BASA
Creativity and hard work have led to success in this Mexican multidisciplinary studio Success, defeat, achievements, and failures are pillars of our training as professionals. That is why we talked with Diego Huacuja "Deachete", an illustrator and animator who, since 2010, is also the director of BASA, a studio located in Mexico City. BASA has become a well-known name all around the world thanks to projects ranging from music festivals and art for events and music videos to animations for TV stations such as ESPN and Discovery Channel or collaborations with human rights organizations. We spoke with Diego about the origin of the studio, the problems they faced in establishing a customer base, and the learning involved in achieving a solid workflow as an independent studio in the world of illustration, design, and animation:
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What is Latch Hooking and Locker Hooking?
Discover these two embroidery techniques that can create a multitude of decorative objects Latch hooking and locker hooking are two modern textile techniques that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century that allow the creation of a wide variety of things, from tapestries to pillows and mats. Colors and textures are brought together by weaving wool and other materials into a mesh. Mariana Baertl (@marianabaertl) is a Peruvian textile artist who specializes in the creation of woven and embroidered pieces for interior decoration who is an expert in these two techniques. Her main source of inspiration is the natural and organic world. All her pieces are made by hand with fibers from across the world.
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The First Special Effects: From Méliès to Marvel
Discover the technology behind the first special effects in history Destroyed cities, explosions, aliens: nothing is impossible in the world of special effects. We're used to seeing practically anything imaginable on our screens. They're not only for action movies either: almost all films use digital elements to simplify production. But this isn't the end of "true cinema": film has always been a visual spectacle filled with special effects. Discover in the video below how the first special effects were made:
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5 Free Tools to Create Color Palettes
Designer and illustrator Laura Varsky tells us about her favorite tools to create color palettes for her projects Creating and selecting the right color palette is an art that not many designers can master. Trends play a big role in choosing specific colors for designs and illustrations, but a trained eye will be able to build a winning palette more easily. There are several free tools to help you create perfect color ranges for your projects. Laura Varsky, an Argentinian designer and illustrator who has made a name for herself in the field of pattern making, shares her favorites. Color Lisa Color Lisa is a collection of color palettes inspired by the works of some of the most famous artists of all time, paintings such as The Son of Man, by René Magritte; Gravitation, by M. C. Escher or Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte, by Georges Seurat. And these are just a small selection of the whole collection, which will allow you to use color like the great masters.
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Types of Watercolor Brushes and How to Use Them
Naranjalidad shows us the types of paintbrushes we should be using to paint in watercolor, how to use them for each type of stroke, and how to make sure they last longer Types of watercolor brushes Before starting to paint with watercolor, it’s important to prepare your basic palette of brushes. This will be your main work tool, so it’s important to know what types of brushes we can use for each case. For Naranjalidad, (@naranjalidad) illustrator and Domestika teacher, there are three types of brushes crucial to any artist: Round tip The top the list because they are indispensable. They are the most versatile brushes that are good to fill in large surfaces, but also to add details and fine lines. They come in different sizes but a medium-sized one will cover all your needs.
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15 Free Apps and Resources to Spur Your Creativity
Check out a set of free resources to spur creativity in the time of #StayAtHome
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5 Courses to Help You Make the Most of Instagram
Turn your cell phone into a professional photography tool
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Teacher MarketingHow to Promote Yourself and Your Work to the Right People
Learn to sell your talent to the right people, in the right space Once you have put together a portfolio that best demonstrates who you are as an artist, you need to do two things: 1) get your work and your art in front of the right people 2) convince them that you are the right person for the job. Today, we are sharing five basic industry tips that will land you your dream job:
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5 Punch Needle Artists You Need to Know
Discover the amazing work of five textile artists who are experts with the magic embroidery pen
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Domestika Talks: Rodrigo Corral
Watch this talk by Rodrigo Corral, one of the greatest book cover designers of recent decades What makes a great book cover designer? Is it best to bring your own style to the design or should you focus entirely on communicating the concept of the book you're working on, removing yourself from the equation? Perhaps the trick is to strike a balance between the two. Rodrigo Corral (@rodrigocorral_) answers these questions and more. Corral–creative director of the publishing house Farrar, Straus and Giroux and head of his own studio–took the stage at the most recent edition of Copa Domestika Colombia to talk about the core ideas behind his work. Watch his talk in the following video:
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Ji Lee Challenges You to Make Someone Happy in This Creative Challenge
Join the #DMSTKHappyChallenge, with creatives like Ji Lee, Joluvian or Zenzuke Ji Lee, a Domestika community professional and freelance designer currently working as creative director for Instagram and Facebook, is a strong believer in the power of personal creative projects. For him, projects that really touch and move us are the best way to expand our horizons. For this reason, his Challenge is called 'Make Someone Happy', and the goal is to use our creativity to, well, make someone happy. To kickstart this creative challenge, Ji Lee turned to two professionals from the Domestika community: motiongrapher Carlos 'Zenzuke' Albarrán and graphic designer Joluvian. Both had to apply their creativity to meet Ji Lee's goal: build something creative capable of making someone else happy. Find out if they succeeded in the following video:
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10 Ceramic Artists That Will Inspire You
Ceramic designer Paula Casella shares the artisans who inspire her when creating her own pieces Pottery and ceramics have been experiencing a boom for some time now that has brought back traditional craftsmanship but, in many cases, with a modern and interesting twist. It’s a trend that has given ceramic objects new life and a place in our contemporary lifestyle. Argentinian artist Paula Casella Biase (@paulacasellabiase) is one of the leading examples in this renaissance of all things handmade.These are some of the potters who inspire her the most: Hand and Fire The hands that shape these pieces of white enameled black clay are those of Sage Cortez. Undoubtedly one of Casella's favorites, Cortez is an American ceramist who makes each object she creates unique by playing with textures and transparencies.
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What Is Fashion Upcycling?
Ximena Corcuera sheds some light on the current global trend of design sustainability Ximena Corcuera (@ximenacorcuera) is a fashion designer who, from an early age, has been interested in experimenting as a way of life. She is an expert in fashion, and in design that is sustainable and experimental. She is passionate about responsible fashion, so we decided to talk to her to find out more about the concept of upcycling, and how to embrace a trend that is gaining more and more strength in the design world. What is upcycling and what do you do with it? Upcycling is a recent term and it is used to describe the techniques that encompass the idea of transforming residues or refuse to create new items of value. It can be applied to all sorts of designing or manufacturing: furniture, garments, textiles, decorative objects. etc.
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The Best Photo Editing Apps
Expert photographers share their favorite apps to take and edit pictures using only natural light No matter what your photography style is, these tools will help you get the most out of your mobile device. Photographers Nicanor García (@nicanorgarcia), Emilio Chuliá Soler (@emiliochulia) and Derio Ilari (@derioi) recommend their favorite applications for phones and tablets, apps that will help you capture and edit incredible pictures both indoors and outdoors, using only natural light. SKRWT This application allows you to apply perspective correction (horizontal and vertical), distortion, cropping, lens correction, ISO adjustments and gives you exposure information of your pictures, as well as a gallery view function.
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Domestika Creatives: Rodrigo Corral
The US graphic artist, best known for his book cover designs, talks to us about his creative process and career.
