Craftside

Creative eye-candy and quote by George Kneller featured in the book Complete Digital Illustration

A lot of the books I write about are written for mixed-media artists and the like, but in addition to those yummy books I savor graphic design books too. This quote by George Kneller featured in the book Complete Digital Illustration: A Master Class in Image-Making is just so good I had to share it with you today:

"Creativity, it has  been said,

consists largely of rearranging what we know

in order to find out what

we do not know."

If you like digital illustration and want a behind-the-scenes peek into the designers that create it, then I bet you will love this Rotovision book:

Complete Digital Illustration:

 A Master Class in Image-Making

By

Lawrence Zeegen

Complete Digital Illustration is an informative and practical guide to this in-demand area of design. Alongside step-by step tutorials, top image-makers from around the world provide real and practical advice on setting up a studio, creating a killer portfolio, and winning commissions.

The work featured in the book reflects the wide and exciting range of image-making practice that thrives today, from music and fashion to character and toy design. The book reveals the secrets of the industry's most successful creatives who transfer traditional illustrative skills into digital dimensions, producing the highest quality, most commercially successful animation, three-dimensional, and vector-based illustration.

This book offers a master class for students and professional designers and illustrators who want to take their work beyond the constraints of two-dimensions and gain greater commercial success. An inspirational, must-have guide, Complete Digital Illustration is also of real value for professional image-makers.

Lawrence Zeegen is an illustrator, educator, and writer. He is the Academic Programme Leader of Communication and Media Arts at the University of Brighton, and is the author of Rotovision's successful What is Illustration? He lives in Brighton, UK.

 

Free CD envelope with windows pattern from the book The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 by Luke Herriott

The idea of making an envelope so that you can spin the disk inside and little bits of info will appear is so cute and kinda retro. This free CD envelope pattern is from the book (and CD) The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2. I think it would be cute to make this envelope for a mixed CD. Maybe for your "Valentine"? And write little Q & A's on the disk? Just a thought.

This pattern is designed by Brad Kayal.

Click on the CD envelope template to download and then print out.

If you like this one, there is a first book in the series (as implied by the "2" hehe):

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook

More about:

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2

See inside peeks and some of the free templates here.

More about the fabulous follow up:

 

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2

By

Luke Herriott

This is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook. With 100% new content, The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 is guaranteed to repeat the runaway success of the original volume. This indispensable sourcebook features 100 new, innovative, and classic packaging and paper engineering ideas across a variety of end uses, with detailed templates showing how to copy, fold, construct, and complete them from widely available materials. The accompanying CD features all of the templates as copyright-free, editable EPS files making The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 an invaluable resource for designer, design students, and crafters.

Luke Herriott has been art directing, designing, and managing book projects for over 15 years, and is the director of book design and packaging company, Studio Ink. He is the author and designer of a number of books, including Instant Graphics, Art Directing Projects for Print, and The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook, published by RotoVision, as well as 1000 Restaurant, Bar, and Cafe Graphics published by Rockport Publishers. He lives in Hastings, UK.

There are 99 more!!!!!!!! (They are all included on the accompanying CD.)

Free Bird (not the song) template from the Fabulous book The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 by Luke Herriott

Old school "Tweet"

Wanna make some paper tweets too? Download this free bird card template from the super fabulous book and CD The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 and let your creativity take flight! Ya, I'm in a super corny mood today.

I loved the first book in the series:

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook

and now there is another one!

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2

See inside peeks and some of the free templates here.

More about the fabulous follow up:

 

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2

By

Luke Herriott

This is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook. With 100% new content, The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 is guaranteed to repeat the runaway success of the original volume. This indispensable sourcebook features 100 new, innovative, and classic packaging and paper engineering ideas across a variety of end uses, with detailed templates showing how to copy, fold, construct, and complete them from widely available materials. The accompanying CD features all of the templates as copyright-free, editable EPS files making The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 an invaluable resource for designer, design students, and crafters.

Luke Herriott has been art directing, designing, and managing book projects for over 15 years, and is the director of book design and packaging company, Studio Ink. He is the author and designer of a number of books, including Instant Graphics, Art Directing Projects for Print, and The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook, published by RotoVision, as well as 1000 Restaurant, Bar, and Cafe Graphics published by Rockport Publishers. He lives in Hastings, UK.

There are 99 more!!!!!!!! (They are all included on the accompanying CD.)

Free pop-up staircase pattern from the new book The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 by Luke Herriott

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 is so cool!!!

I loved the first one:

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook

See inside peeks and some of the free templates here.

 

The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2

By

Luke Herriott

This is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook. With 100% new content, The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 is guaranteed to repeat the runaway success of the original volume. This indispensable sourcebook features 100 new, innovative, and classic packaging and paper engineering ideas across a variety of end uses, with detailed templates showing how to copy, fold, construct, and complete them from widely available materials. The accompanying CD features all of the templates as copyright-free, editable EPS files making The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2 an invaluable resource for designer, design students, and crafters.

Luke Herriott has been art directing, designing, and managing book projects for over 15 years, and is the director of book design and packaging company, Studio Ink. He is the author and designer of a number of books, including Instant Graphics, Art Directing Projects for Print, and The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook, published by RotoVision, as well as 1000 Restaurant, Bar, and Cafe Graphics published by Rockport Publishers. He lives in Hastings, UK.

Here is a wonderful sample of the types of cool templates in The Packaging and Design Templates Sourcebook 2.

It is a pop-up staircase template.

There are 99 more!!!!!!!! (they are all included on a CD)

And some good stair quotes:

“The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs.” ~Vance Havner

“An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You would never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.” ~Mitch Hedberg

“The ambitious climbs up high and perilous stairs, and never cares how to come down; the desire of rising hath swallowed up his fear of a fall.” ~Thomas Adams

Alice falls down the rabbit hole and her dress poofs up like a parachute
Alice: “Well, after this I should think nothing of falling down stairs.”~Alice in Wonderland

“Away from the world and its toils and its cares, I've a snug little kingdom up four pair of stairs.” ~ William Makepeace Thackeray

Bird pop up card pattern from the book Paper Engineering by Natalie Avella

With Mother's Day fast approaching, I thought I'd spread the love with this bird card pattern from the fabu book Paper Engineering.

 

Click on the pop up bird card pattern to enlarge and make one yourself.

To see a cute mini journal project, click on the "Paper Engineering" link below!

More about:

Paper Engineering
By
Natalie Avella

Paper Engineering explores graphic design that extends beyond 2D. From a simple fold in a letterhead to the structural intricacies of a pop-up book, the construction of a 3D paper object requires as much input as its surface decoration.

This stylish and inspirational book unfolds the conceptual complexities of paper engineering, studying the techniques of eminent international designers. Case studies are illustrated with photographs of finished work, as well as detailed diagrams and commentary. Now available in a fully revised and extended edition, Paper Engineering also explores the functions of paper architecture in graphic design, ranging from greeting cards to invitations and from point-of-sale to packaging.

Natalie Avella is a design writer living and working in London.

Pop on over to Amazon for more inside peeks into  Paper Engineering.

And if you are looking for a gift for mom, pop on over to The Card Album blog. If your mom is like mine and saves her Mother's Day cards, why not get her a great place to store and savor all her greeting cards all organized in a handy dandy album specifically designed to bind them without damaging them in any way!