The Scales of Justice

I like the layers and texture in this cover design from Penguin Books. It's interesting to see how a design can have plenty of depth with a monochromatic color scheme.

Live enviably

I like the simplicity and message on this bag design from Green Eyed Monster. What a company name! Definitely creative and memorable.

Creating a Line Drawing or Pencil Drawing from a Photograph

There are a few different ways to create a black and white line drawing from a photograph in Photoshop. Here are the methods that work best for me:

Threshold method:

1. Open a photo in Photoshop. Apply Curves as necessary.
2. Duplicate the background layer. Apply Filter > Other > High Pass with a low radius (anywhere between 2-6 depending on the image resolution).
3. Choose Image > Adjustments > Threshold and move the slider until you like the effect. I used 123 for this image.
4. Add a layer filled with white below your threshold layer.
5. On the threshold layer, add a layer mask and paint out any undesired details. I wanted a simple look for this photo so I painted out the textured areas in her skin.

Color Dodge method:

1. Open a photo in Photoshop. Apply Curves as necessary.
2. Duplicate the background layer twice for a total of 3 image layers.
3. Change the layer mode of the topmost layer to Color Dodge.
4. Invert the top layer (Cmd-I) and apply a Gaussian Blur of 5 px.
5. On the middle layer, apply Filter > Artistic > Poster Edges with Edge thickness: 1, Edge intensity: 0, Posterization: 6.
6. Above all of the layers, add a Hue Saturation adjustment layer and move the Saturation slider to -100 to desaturate the image.
7. Apply Curves to remove some of the gray from the image and add contrast.

Optional 3rd method:

• Depending on the look you want, Filter > Sketch > Stamp, can sometimes give some interesting results. With the stamp filter, the higher the resolution, the better the results.

Thanks to stock.xchng user trublueboy for this image.

Festival Logos

I stumbled into these festival logos when doing design research for a current project. On the jazz and blues logo, I like the color scheme, movement and the way the designer gracefully fit in all of the text. On the Tirgan logo, I like the flowing lines, Arabic elements and the images within the butterfly wings.

Pink Loves Brown

Pink Loves Brown has some adorable modern bookplates. Also notable are the periodic table of sentiments cards.

Annick Poirier

Annick Poirier's illustrations are outstanding. I love the composition, colors, mix of photo-realistic illustration with simple shapes and silhouettes. More at annickpoirier.com.

Clever Photoshop Ads

I found these ads for Ziplock bags and Old English wood polish in the Communication Arts Advertising Annual — clever and well-executed pieces of Photoshop work.

In Case of Rain

I like these two layered photographs by KarrieWelbornPhotos on Etsy. The raindrops look like clear crystals suspended in the sky and I keep looking back and forth between the different layers.

Proforma

Proforma is a tight modern font with sharp serifs and a clean no-nonsense look. I like how flexible it is. It works well with all sorts of projects. In 2007, TIME magazine was redesigned and Proforma was chosen for their new text font.

Google Fight

Google Fight is a hilarious and effective way to compare Google results for different search terms. As shown in the sample search above, I sometimes use it as a spell checker for uncommon words (usually the item with the most results is the correct spelling but not always).