Digital Illustration

Adobe “Honor the Heroes”

A few weeks back Adobe, the graphic design software giant launched a new microsite that honors the frontline workers fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with the video below, the site contains 120 illustrations created using their software. There s a link out to the Instagram site where additional images (not all are in the original vein that Adobe started with) are being uploaded with the hashtag #honorheroes. Each of the images is a CTA to the illustrator’s Instagram account where you can get the back story on the individual that the illustrator chose to feature.

The microsite is simple but could have done one thing that would have made it better. A link to a location where you could donate to the cause. I say this because Adobe has this at the top of the page.

“Adobe is supporting the COVID-19 efforts with over $3 million in donations to organizations that provide vital assistance to our communities across the globe.”

Failing to add a url to a donation site from both the microsite and the Instagram accounts was a missed opportunity. to do more.

The illustrations are great though.

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61 Solutions “Mischief” for Digital Artist Everywhere.

I am always on the look out for digital painting and sketching tools to add to my arsenal. 61 Solutions launched Mischief last month which is a vector based painting and drawing application that looks pretty slick.

Using both pixel-based brushes and the scalability of vectors, Mischief give you infinite zoom, and scalability, without loss of detail. This combined infinite canvas size makes this a pretty powerful tool for digital artist. With a cost of $129.00 it hits a sweet spot giving you big features while not breaking the bank. You can try it for free for 15 days before you have to commit to buying which is an added plus for those on a budget. Below is a list of some key features of Mischief.

Mischief Features:

Infinite Definition

Mischief uses a revolutionary new stroke representation. Get the richness of pixel-based brushes AND the scalability of vectors. Zoom in to any size and get a PERFECT edge. Export at ANY size and resolution.

Infinite Canvas

Mischief has a truly infinite canvas. Your artwork can grow organically without constraints. There is no need to preset paper sizes or resolutions or to resize the canvas during drawing.

Unprecedented Zoom

Mischief handles a zoom range of 50 trillion to one. Create artwork with extraordinary levels of detail or draw a story, within a story, within a story … the possibilities are endless.

Highly Responsive

Mischief exploits the massive parallelism of today‘s GPUs. Get unprecedented performance even for very complex artwork. Scale, pan, and rotate in real-time without compromising quality.

Small File Sizes

Mischief files are smaller than comparable Photoshop and Illustrator files. Sharing high resolution artwork has never been so painless.

No Manual Required

Get started instantly; just pick up your stylus and draw. Pen and paper styles, tool selection, layers, and all the essentials are right at your finger tips. No complex menus or hidden features.

Adobe Creative Cloud Exclusives for Photoshop CS6 Extended/

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Yesterday Adobe announced a host of new features for Photoshop CS6, and Creative Cloud users. Actually these new features are available only for Creative Cloud members, but you can still get a look at what they are here even if you don’t use the service.

Making feature specific updates for Creative Cloud members is nothing new. Adobe has been doing this for about a year now, and the fact is, this is Adobe’s plan of attack. More and more features will only be made available to people that have signed up for, pay for, and use Creative Cloud.

The Photoshop update features 12 new items that really look pretty tasty, but at a $50.00 a month membership fee you’ll need to ask yourself if they are really worth an additional $600.00 a year beyond the price of Photoshop, and or your upgrade cost.

The new features for Photoshop CS6 Creative Cloud Members include:

  1. Smart Object support for Blur Gallery

  2. Smart Object support for Liquify
  3. Conditional Actions
  4. Pen tool enhancement
  5. CSS export for faster web design
  6. Import color from web files
  7. Improved 3D effect
  8. HiDPI and Retina display support
  9. New and reengineered design tools
  10. New reflections and draggable shadows
  11.  Erodible brushes
  12. Content-Aware Patch