“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.”

“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor and creator in many creative fields. As one of the most recognized figures in twentieth-century art, he is (perhaps) best known for co-founding the Cubist movement and for the wide variety of styles embodied in his work. Aside from having a hand in every art movement of the 20th C, he also had some interesting things to say about creativity and life. Here are 7 enlightening tips (via the positivity blog) that are sure to inspire creativity from different levels. more…

• Area 105

Area 105 is the portfolio of artist Tony Ariawan, from Yogyakarta, Indonesia. His portfolio consists of extremly well executed 2d a 3d graphic works, comprising of 6 sections. All the artworks above were created in the ” Stop haunt me everyday” series and made using just Photoshop CS2. In which, he offers an insightful quicktutorial into how to build this ghostly artwork using mostly the Warp Transform tool - one of the great new additions to photoshop cs2. Ariawan’s 2d/3d artworks is both original and clean in approach, so it is well worth the effort to view all works presented at area 105.

• Lifeinvector

One of the most unique and fun features in Adobe Illustrator is the Gradient Mesh Tool. Curious to know what the gradient mesh can do? Well, the image above was created using a gradient mesh tool (gradient mesh structure to the right). You can also click here to see a plethora of other images created only with the gradient mesh tool and Illustrator.

If you’ve looked at this tool in Illustrator, I’m sure you felt as I did when I first looked at it – overwhelmed. The best way to think of the tool is like finger painting. You’re constantly pulling and pushing, adding and moving the color around to achieve the desired look . To simplify techniques for you, Brooke from lifeinvector has put together a super mesh tool tutorial (one of the best I’ve seen). In a 12-page PDF, you’ll find a step-by-step tutorial where you’ll find tips, secrets, and full-color reference screenshots. While your on her site, keep scrolling to view all of her fabulous new artwork, designs and wallpapers to download, too.

Click here to visit her download page.

Good luck & happy rendering!

• The Learn List

Do you need to find photoshop tutorial? How about an Illustrator, flash, dreamweaver, actionscript, xml, css or even a php tutorial? Well, look no further than the learn list. This is a super simple resource that aims to gather the best tutorial and book links from all over the web. The website was created by UK designer Chris Robinson at Crobbo.com. The lists of available online tutorial links are growing fast, and will in my humble opinion be the ultimate stop-off site for excellent tutorials online. Be sure to post them an amazing link if you know of any tutorials not listed.

• Pop Art Tutorial

Are you a fan of Pop Art? Ever wanted to transform a photo into a retro pop art style painting in Adobe photoshop? If the answer is yes to both of these questions, Melissa Clifton offers an excellent Lichteinstein-esque tutorial just for you.

Almost synonymous with Pop Art, Roy Lichteinstein become a pioneer of pop art in the 60’s with his benday dot effect comic-strip paintings. Benday dots were created using a printing process which combines two (or more) different small, coloured dots to create a third colour. This effect is achieved using Colour Halftone filter found in Photoshop, however Melissa takes you through a 2 step approach using just black and white Halftone Pattern. This offers a more cleaner looking finished result.

Here’s a list of more Pop Art style tutorials recommended for beginner to intermediate level photoshop users:

• Andy-Warhol-Up Your Photographs
• Pop-Art Part 1
• Pop Art Part 2
• Andy Warhol Pop Art Silkscreen Effect
• Photoshop Creating Pop Art Tutorial
• Create Pop Illustration
• Pop Art Video Tutorial

And, here’s a site that creates pop art style paintings for you.

The finished Landscape painting

The Speedpainting Tutorial

It took Spanish artist Nacho Yague 1:30 Hrs to complete this fantastic landscape speedpainting in Photoshop CS3. Yague’s a known Concept artist and Illustrator for Videogames. In this speedpainting tutorial he was testing different drawing techniques, to improve on his photoshop skills. I’m sure you’ll agree his skills and photoshop mastery is incredible. Here is the whole process. Enjoy…

• Nacho Yague