Featured Amazing Work Artist Hotpin

I am going to share with you some great Flyer templates from Hotpin, they are great and very detailed and useful for nearly any kind of business and only  $6, so great value and a really solid place to start from if you want to make them your own but are limited on time. And as if it could not get any better all the templates are easy to customise. so with out further ado I will provided a number of samples of his work. if you wish to purchase any then all you have to do is just click on one of the images and it will take you to the purchase page!

PARTY/CLUB FLYERS AND POSTER TEMPLATE

Club/party flyers & Poster template

3 PSD files in 3 sizes:A3, A4 and A5 (42×28.7 , 29.7×21 and 21×14.8 cm) or (23.4×16.5 , 11.7×8.3 and 8.3×5.8 in) with 3mm bleed

Many color variations: Just find the colors folder and play around with the layers also you can have 2 layers activated at the same time. Also you can change the headphones color.

Clearly labeled folders and layers

CMYK ready to print with guides

Poker Night Flyer Template

Poker Night Bar Flyer Template is suitable for bar poker night and with some modifications on text you can use it to advertise your poker or casino website!

3 PSD files – 8.5”x11” and 5.5”x8.5” with 0.25” bleed

2 Versions- Poster and Flyer

Clearly labeled folders and layers

CMYK – 300dpi – Ready to print with guides

Funky Vibes Party Club Flyer Template

Funky Vibes Party_Club Flyer Template is perfect for club event and party you are organizing and any music genre!

1 PSD file: 5”x7”

Clearly labeled folders and layers

CMYK – 300dpi – Ready to print with guides

Easy to change colors

Carnival Party/Club Flyer Template

Carnival club party flyer template is a modern design psd template suitable for any carnival party or club event you are organizing!

2 PSD files in 2 sizes: A4 and A5 (,29.7×21 and 21×14.8 cm) or (11.7×8.3 and 8.3×5.8 in) with 3mm bleed

Many color variations: Just find the colors folder and play around with the layers also you can have 2 layers activated at the same time.

Clearly labeled folders and layers

CMYK ready to print with guides

Featured Author RafaelOliveira

RafaelOliveira has a very impressive portfolio of work wide and varied, Facebook timelines, logos, brochures, business cards, banners, text syles and much much more, I am going to share some of my favorite work of his. feel free to have a look at them and just click on the images to visit the purchase page if your interested in buying any.

Custom Facebook Covers

Pro Banners Pack

The Developer Business Card

Web Elements Pack

An interview with Joanne Taylor

Over the last 2 year I have spent many hours on a site called graphicriver a place for selling design templates of all sorts, it is a great place with many talented authors so I have decided to interview artists from the site and this is one of many more to come. I hope this will help people understand how other designer work and what processes they go through. I do not censor what the artist tell me I try to keep in all they say as it is good to know how different artists work.

1. How did you get started in the design industry, and what is your advice for people thinking of doing the same?

Very gradually, almost by mistake actually. Drawing and art was the only thing that consistently interested me since childhood, and just about everything in my life takes second place to it. (Except my cat.) I got married very young and in those days a woman was expected to just settle down and do the wife thing. I tried it for 10 years and went mad, ending up a single mother with 3 little ones before i was 30; so i had to go out and get a job. A benevolent little medical ad agency took me in as a junior visualiser and i discovered i loved illustrating muscles and bones. From there i slowly drifted into illustration and the freelanced after 3 years and worked on all sorts of art, illustration and design projects for small time clients. Busking really. I would never have referred to myself as a ‘professional’.

I only began working on the computer ‘digitizing’ some of my ideas after i inherited an iMac from my younger son Ross. He died in 2010 from cancer (2 years after miraculously surviving a great white shark attack!) He gave me my first proper Photoshop lessons from his sickbed when he couldn’t see or walk anymore. It was an amazing and gift from him.

Advice for anyone wanting to do the same? Firstly, love the art and the process more than anything or anyone else. (except your pet). Secondly, know that the reward is in the process of creating, not in the income it may or may not generate. A long time ago i used to think i needed to work to make money to buy things to make me happy. Now with most of my life behind me (unless i live to be over 120!) i am really pleased that i made the creating of things my priority, rather than the buying of things.

2. What is your process for starting a new piece of work?

The question should be “Where is the process…” The answer is in bed! Most of my idea happen in that semi-conscious state between 4 and 6 am. It’s always been that way. I sleep for about 5 hours a night and then create for a few hours before getting up. I have such fully detailed images sometimes that all i have to do when i sit down at the drawing table (or computer now) is ‘copy’ what i saw.

3. Do you have any favourite websites for finding design inspiration?

I follow a few artists on Behance, and i like Illustrationmundo.com, but generally i try not to spend too much time online. Our connection here in South Africa is very frustrating that browsing can make a serious dent in the daily work time. Life itself is an inspiration – observing it. There is no substitute for curiousity and observation when developing your creativity.

4. What do you think are the most important skills for a designer to have/develop?

The technical skills will come with practice, but the ideas… well, i think they require empty space to be born into. For me that empty space is the hypnogogic consciousness between sleep and wake time. Like silence is to Zen practitioners. They say there are no totally new and original ideas, that everything comes from reconnections of things already experienced, but for those new connections to be made, the space must be empty. So i would say one needs to develop the faculties of observation, curiosity and silence.

5. What does your work area look like and what make it special to you?

My workspace is only a corner of my already tiny sleeping area attached to my studio. The window overlooks the Tsitsikamma mountains, and a giant mulberry tree. I have a Windows computer to work on, and Ross’s iMac is connected to the internet. My painting studio takes up 99 percent of my whole living space, and it looks different from day to day depending on what is being done. It also overlooks the mountains, and the back window is overshadowed by a huge guava tree which attracts the baboons living in the small nature sanctuary nearby.

6. What trends will emerge and be popular in 2012 in your opinion?

I don’t consider myself knowledgeable enough to predict what is trending, but i do see a lot more simplicity in illustration. I think ‘popularity’ is often an instigated thing – today it is all about celebrity and fame, and all one has to do is get something used or slandered by a famous person to become the next fad. But generally i think trends in things like design evolve behind the scenes to cater to technicalities. Minimal styles enable much faster up and downloading, are easier to see on smaller screens… that sort of thing.

7. When you are not designing what do you get up to?

Up until a couple of years ago i did a lot of roller blading to keep fit. Now i spend too much time on my computer! But i walk in this beautiful area, and cycle. We (my elder son and his wife and 2 yr old son) have a raku pottery studio, two hives of honey bees, a ‘working’ garden with a large collection of cacti and succulents, and baboons and monkeys for neighbours. There’s not much time for anything else.

8. Which piece of you work are you most proud of and why?

Thirty years of working life it is impossible to say which piece of work has given me most satisfaction. As an artist generally i suppose the last painting commission i had was the most rewarding. It was the biggest project i ever undertook, 5 panels measuring about 7ft x 4ft each. They hardly fitted in my little studio but i just started and kept going and enjoyed every stage, some of it being done on the patio under the mulberry tree. The clients were fantastic, really enthusiastic as i sent ‘work in progress’ images. You can see it being installed in the photograph.

9. What do you do when get creative block and how do you overcome it?

If i ever got such a thing i would just go to bed.

10. What are the current design goals you’re looking to achieve?

don’t know if anyone could imagine what an achievement it was for me just to get stuff accepted on Graphic River. I am a total ‘outsider’… in the artistic and horse racing sense! I’ve never planned anything in my life, just got carried along on the current, being forced into taking all sorts of directions whilst trying to forge some sort of career in art. I may never have achieved anything if other things didn’t happen.

So my current ‘design goals’ are very modest. I want to make 1000 sales by the time i get my one year badge on GR. I want to hone my personal style a bit more, instead of it looking a bit schizophrenic. (But i have said that all my life!) I want to get good enough in both Photoshop and Illustrator so that i can teach my grandson what my own son taught me.

Featured Author Cooledition

Cooledition has a very impressive portfolio of work wide and varied, party fliers, logos, brochures, business cards and much much more, I am going to share some of my favourite work of his. feel free to have a look at them and just click on the images to visit the purchase page.

Unforgettable Party Flyer

Facebook Timeline Covers Templates

Pro Web Display

Modern Corporate Business Flyer

Featured Web Designer CmsMasters

Cmsmasters are a great team that produce top quality web templates I will post a number of their works just click on the images to visit the purchase page where you can demo the site to see if it suites your needs. below is what people had to say about them.

What can I say about cmsmasters team? It is very simple, it’s a fantastic team! Technical support is awesome, answered all my questions quickly and were always by my side to find the best solutions. I can only thank the help they gave me. I´m pleased to recommend this author.

Clockstone – Ultimate WordPress Theme

Blakesley – Premium Business & Portfolio wordpress

Tesigner – Creative Portfolio WP Theme

Cleanple – a powerful and elegant WordPress theme

An interview with Contrast Black

Over the last 2 year I have spent many hours on a site called graphicriver a place for selling design templates of all sorts, it is a great place with many talented authors so I have decided to interview artists from the site and this is one of many more to come. I hope this will help people understand how other designer work and what processes they go through. I do not censor what the artist tell me I try to keep in all they say as it is good to know how different artists work.

1. How did you get started in the design industry, and what is your advice for people thinking of doing the same?

My first contact with the design industry was back in the days while I was still in school. All my colleagues were busy back then playing football or watching cartoons, while I was busy sketching and “visiting” subway depots with a few totally innocent spray-cans in my backpack. It wasn’t what you’d call a classic approach to wanting to become a graphic designer, but rather the later became a clear goal upon advancing with age. Mind you, this was happening somewhere around the age of 14. A few years later, and a whole lot of sketchbooks and repainted interior walls, I finally settled down on illustration and received my first few clients based on my urban style. Those were the good old times. No worries, few clients, and any payment was good, as it was instantly invested in another batch of spray-cans.

My only advice towards people thinking about pursuing a career in this domain would be to “stop thinking about pursuing a career” and rather pursue their own style, their own passion, and if good design and intricate works are a by-product, then I can only guarantee that they might be successful later when it matters. Stress is good if you use stress as a motivational factor, not if you burden yourself with it instead of using it to your advantage, so keep your focus, maintain a clear overview of what you do with joy, and keep doing it. Only through passion can one obtain greatness, never through “need”.

An interview with Patrik Larsson

Over the last 2 year I have spent many hours on a site called graphicriver a place for selling design templates of all sorts, it is a great place with many talented authors so I have decided to interview artists from the site and this is the first of many more to come. I hope this will help people understand how other designer work and what processes they go through.

1. How did you get started in the design industry, and what is your advice for people thinking of doing the same?

A friend got me started some number of years ago, not really sure how long but it’s been a while, close to a decade I think. Anyway, he showed me photoshop (photoshop 7) one day and I were hooked, I went home, downloaded the trial and started playing around. First it were manipulations and very basic design stuff but never got hooked on either of those paths. It weren’t until I stumbled across PSDTUTS many years ago that got me into web design (Thank you Collis).

Since then I’ve never looked back and I haven’t reconsidered my decision one bit. Everything I know, all technique’s, all my knowledge about Photoshop are self-thaught. I started with learning about the trends and how the industry works and just went from there.

Best advice I have, never be afraid of loosing, never be afraid of taking a risk and never complain more than it’s worth. Listen to feedback, no matter if it’s constructive or poor. Make the best of each situation and you’ll come out a winner.

2. What is your process for starting a new piece of work?

It might vary from time to time but usually it’s something like this:

Planning – what’s needed or what could work
Wireframing/sketching – I do this a lot
Design
Organizing layers/groups
Polishing – fixing edges, layer styles, etc..
Leave it for a day or two
Revisit – I either throw it away or use it (though it’s most likely I throw it away, even if it’s a freebie)
Either start over or start something new

I can have around 10-20 revisions on a design before I’m happy with it and it’s not uncommon that I throw a completed design away and start over from scratch. In fact, it happens more often than I’d like to admit 🙂

3. Do you have any favourite websites for finding design inspiration?

There are so many, but foremost I visit Dribbble, Creattica, DesignDelight and UIParade. I’ve never cared much for Forrst or LoveDesign but I guess some people do and I bet a lot of people gets inspiration from those sites as well. As I’m a GraphicRiver Reviewer I tend to browse the library there and it never stops to amaze me how many talented authors there are there, it’s so much fun to browse GraphicRiver and ThemeForest for inspiration. If you haven’t you should definitely try!

4. What do you think are the most important skills for a designer to have/develop?

Tough question but I think I have an answer for you. From my point of view the most important thing is to have the will of doing what you love. If one lacks the will, then there’s nothing one can do except starting over again or maybe even consider changing profession.

If you have the will and know-how to make a change, do it, don’t wait, just do it.

5. What does your work area look like and what make it special to you?

As I’ve been in the middle of a move very recently, we’ve still got boxes to unpack, I took the opportunity to get a completely new home office for myself. Everyone needs a place to do their work and mine’s great so far, but I’ve got a few things planned to enhance it a bit more soon enough. Amongst them are a new chair, a shelf, an iPad, an iMac 27″ or a new screen. I love my MacBook Pro 13″ (2011 late model) but I’d love to have a bigger screen sometimes.

Anyway, the thing that makes my new workspace so special for me are my two Star Wars bobbleheads. They always nod when I come up with a stupid idea and they even nod when I come up with a great idea-I just love it!

Below you can find a picture of my newly setup workspace. I hope you’ll like it!

6. What trends will emerge and be popular in 2012 in your opinion?

That’s hard to say, as the web changes from day to day it’s a very hard question. But my predictions are that we’ll see more and more web apps coming in 2012. As the web changes so will the way we use it. As for design trends I have no idea but I guess it might be minimal, minimal were a big part of 2011 and I don’t see any reason for it to stop.

7. When you are not designing what do you get up to?

I play video games, taking a walk, watching TV or just talking about various stuff with my girlfriend. Most of all it’s talking to my gf, taking a walk and video games. That’s pretty much it really. I play a lot of Fallout 3 again but I also play a lot of Minecraft to keep the creative juices flowing.

8. Which piece of you work are you most proud of and why?

Well, one might think I’m most proud of everything I’ve done but that’s not the case at all. In fact, I actually dislike 90% of my work, including successful work. But the thing I’m most proud of is one of my latest freebies actually, my Music Player I did a couple of weeks ago, it’s pretty much one of the very few things I can still look at without hating it. I just love the way it turned out and I’m really proud of it. Check it out, and while you’re at it, check out and grab all my other freebies as well.

9. What do you do when get creative block and how do you overcome it?

To put it simply, I get inspired from taking a walk, when I’m in the shower and even when I sit with my coffee in hand reading a magazine so I get easily inspired. Though creative block happens from time to time I just go out for a walk, play some video games and presto, inspiration back and creative block gone. That what I’ve found most effective and I’ve been doing it for quite a while now 🙂

10. What are the current design goals you’re looking to achieve?

My biggest goal for the moment is to get my new site up and running properly, hopefully I can have it done by March 15 but in worst case scenario it might take a wee bit longer. However, my main goal for 2012 is to really kick my new business off the ground and my new site will help me do that. Got lots of fun stuff planned and I hope that you’re all with me on this journey.

An interview with quickandeasy

Over the last 2 year I have spent many hours on a site called graphicriver a place for selling design templates of all sorts, it is a great place with many talented authors so I have decided to interview artists from the site and this is the first of many more to come. I hope this will help people understand how other designer work and what processes they go through.

1. How did you get started in the design industry, and what is your advice for people thinking of doing the same?

When I was about 14, I custom built a PC with a family friend who was a computer tech guy. I wanted the PC for gaming, so it had a strong graphics card and was fairly powerful. When finishing off the computer, my friend also installed the Adobe suite + things like Macromedia fireworks. I ended up playing around with Photoshop + Fireworks and found it incredibly cool (you know, writing your name and adding an embossed effect being the coolest thing you’ve ever seen) and it became my new hobby. I started spending a lot of time creating silly graphics for game forum signatures, my friend’s myspace accounts or MSN Messenger avatars and it simply grew from that. It was only about a year or two later after I’d discovered PSD Tuts and really improved my skills, that I started to think about maybe finding clients and entering the ‘industry’

2. What is your process for starting a new piece of work?

It varies on what I have in mind. I recently created a range of 3 Gangster themed flyer templates which beforehand I trawled the web looking for old 1940’s photographs of people and life back then. I analysed the images and applied what I could see to my work. It all depends on the project, sometimes I’ll just get on with it and ‘throw my paints at the canvas’, others I’ll refer to books or the web. You can see a video of me working & making it up as I go along shown below

Vixen Free Flyer Template : Flyerheroes.com/vixen from Adam McIntyre on Vimeo.

3. Do you have any favourite websites for finding design inspiration?

I tend to stick to the usual of DeviantArt, Behance & Creattica. Sometimes I wander around Ffffound, but that’s exactly it – I wander around, get lost and an hour later I can’t even remember what I was originally looking for. Specifically as an inspiration for my craft, i.e making flyer templates, I have a big folder on my computer and a folder in Chrome just FULL of bookmarks to interesting works. I also make regular flyer design inspiration posts on Flyer Heroes.

4. What do you think are the most important skills for a designer to have/develop?

The most important things for a designer to have are determination to consistently improve and the ability to take all criticisms of their work on board. Everyone develops their own style and their own way of doing things, but you should also have the ability to understand the fundamentals of design. It’s ok to be able to create super explosive, energy filled & high octane flyer or poster designs, but can you create a simple, basic, text based leaflet for a local shop or business, that doesn’t need in-your-face graphics? Understanding the importance of single core subjects like typography, contrast, colour palettes etc, is something that I am still taking a lot of time to improve and work on, as it’s something that’ll be key to your success much more than your ‘sick Photoshop skillz’.

5. What does your work area look like and what make it special to you?

My work area is wherever I choose to sit in the house. Either in my office, one of my lounges, dining room, bedroom… Ahhh I love having the freedom of a laptop.

6. What trends will emerge and be popular in 2012 in your opinion?

I really don’t know. In regards to the Micro-ISV market on places like Graphicriver, things will definitely become more competitive, the quality of your competition’s items will increase and it won’t be as easy as it once was to instantly start getting sales on your items.

7. When you are not designing what do you get up to?

I’ll be working on something, eating, watching films or working on something. Oh, did I say working on something?

8. Which piece of you work are you most proud of and why?

A3 Drinks Advertisement Poster Template. Clean, crisp, highly usable and selling really well. I recently designed a follow up to it, Drinks Advertisement Poster Template Vol. 2, which is also working it’s way through the sales. I’m also very proud of Flyer Heroes and our growing list of Free Flyer Templates. A blog I started a few months ago for my rejected flyer templates + it has surprisingly picked up it’s traffic and is beginning to gather a bit of traction here and there!

9. What do you do when get creative block and how do you overcome it?

Work on something else, take my mind off the project for an hour or day, browse the net looking for inspiration or refer to my growing collection f design related books. As we all know, creative block is just plain evil.

10. What are the current design goals you’re looking to achieve?

Personally, for 2012, my main goal is the sheer dedication to increasing my Graphicriver market share. I want to be in the top 50 Graphicriver Authors in the next 4 or 5 months. (currently #94) I also plan to create a crash course for new authors revealing some great techniques for jump starting your Graphicriver career. If you’d like to connect with me online, feel free to check out my personal website, QAE Design or find me designing free flyer templates over on FlyerHeroes! Thanks, Adam.