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Ask a Font Creator: Catching up on Vocabulary

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As part of my “Ask a Font Creator” series over at the FontBundles blog, I did two parts on the vocabulary of type (and could have gone on for MUCH longer). The first post deals with some basics, as well as categories and styles of fonts. So if someone asks for your favorite sans-serif font, you’ll know what they’re talking about. And if you’re looking for a font that looks a specific way, the list of styles can help you improve your Google-fu. The second post gets into two different. . . Read More!

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New blog series: Ask a Font Creator

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I’ve been invited by the folks at FontBundles to write a weekly blog, and they’re leaving the content pretty much up to me, as long as it’s somewhat related to fonts and/or design. I’ve decided to call the series “Ask a Font Creator,” and I’ve been tackling questions or issues I see come up in the font community. The first post answers a question that several people asked, which is, “What’s your process for creating fonts?” I’d done a post a while back on how to use three free pieces. . . Read More!

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Tutorial: Creating a Mist Look in the Procreate App

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final mist effect

Hello again! Back with another effect tutorial for the Procreate app in iOS. I’m calling this one “spooky,” since Halloween is just around the corner, but I guess it doesn’t have to be — you could draw a silhouette of a superstar singer, or a fabulous something/someone else, and have the lights and mist pouring around them. Anyhoo, my place is not to judge what you use this mist effect for. Let’s learn how to do it! I’m creating this one on the 4×6 size in Procreate; measurements and percentages. . . Read More!

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More fonts, now available at FontBundles!

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As previously noted, I’ve been making more fonts. Here are a couple of fresh ones! I have a portfolio of all of these fonts over at Behance, but they’re also being picked up by a few sites that specialize in providing fonts, or graphic design elements, or both. One of my favorites is FontBundles.net — they have great bundles of really nice fonts to buy, and enough great individual fonts that a fontaholic could go broke, but they also do a free premium font every week! They’re carrying my most. . . Read More!

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The day after Disney, I dyed my hair pink.

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I’ve been looking forward to this for months. I have only colored my hair a couple of times since starting with the mouse over eight years ago, and even then it had to be a natural-looking color. I missed the crazy shades! I mostly used to do reds and oranges, or just bleached blonde, and thought about those colors this time around. But I finally decided that I’d do a color I’ve never done before: pink. To start with, here’s a before picture: With extra bonus helper sink cat! On. . . Read More!

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Tiny lenses … for my phone

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(Title sung to the tune of “Tiny Bubbles,” which is totally stuck in my head right now.) So while reading an article on BoingBoing the the other day, I experienced that thing where you go from not knowing an item exists to wanting it desperately, all in a span of 30 seconds. The item in question: a set of tiny clip-on lenses for your cell phone. Immediately, I dashed over to Amazon. The author of the BoingBoing piece had ordered his set for about three bucks, but they took a. . . Read More!

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The end of the mouse is in sight.

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I’m at the two-weeks-left point of my job, and boy howdy am I ready to be done. I really like the job, don’t get me wrong, but I’m holding off on doing so many things right now. One thing I’ll say, I don’t know if I’ll ever find a cooler job — I’ve listened to so much music that I broke my headphones. Thank goodness for duct tape. No point in getting a new pair, since I’ll only be there a short while longer. One of the things I’m holding. . . Read More!

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Photodump: 2015 so far, and things to come

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Sorry, any of those who are following the minutiae of my life! Things have been very busy of late, and they’re only going to get busier very soon. Back in February, we took a trip out to Phoenix, Arizona. We went for a couple of reasons: first, all of my immediate family has migrated there from Seattle, so we were able to visit my parents, as well as my brother and his family. My parents have a thriving lemon tree in their backyard,. . . Read More!

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Photoshop Text Effect Tutorial: Road Stencil

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I’ve been learning a ton of new tips and tricks from following Photoshop text tutorials lately. As we were driving to the grocery store the other day, I looked down at the chipped up, grimy, beat-to-hell turn arrow and text on the road and thought, that’d be a cool thing to create in Photoshop! I looked around for a tutorial, but couldn’t find one. So I made one! Note: this is done in Photoshop CS4; things might be in slightly different places in different versions. Here are the elements I. . . Read More!

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Playing with Photoshop Text Effects

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I’ve had Photoshop on my computer for years, but I’ve mostly used it for, y’know photos. And doodle-related stuff. If I was using it to put text on something, I might put an outline around the text. Or a drop shadow. That was about the limit of my Photoshop text experience. Recently, I’ve had my eyes opened that you can do some really cool text effects in Photoshop. We bought a package of vintage and retro text effects (they were on a hella good sale, which sadly ended a couple. . . Read More!