Eshark Design

How much do you know about Pixel Art? Many of you could not even express the word by seeing the art piece which are pretty amazing. Well, today is your lucky day as I’m going to write about Pixel Art, and we’re going to look through some of the work of my favorite artist who has mastered Pixel Art.

Pixel Art is almost about everything.. it tells a story, portrait a huge community, creative color combination and a simple architectural that looks complex and massive.

First let me explain that Pixel Art is a form of digital art which created through the use of raster graphics software, where images are edited on pixel level. For those who didn’t know, Pixel Art is not the new kid in town, it has been used in the most earliest computer in the late 70’s to develop a graphic technology for 16-bit video games mostly and digital illustration.

Pixel art is not just a skill that requires you to practice a lot, I see it in a way of how you apply every details on your drawing to be connected to each other in an interesting way. When creating pixel art, you will never actually calculate how much vector you put on it.

Did you know?
SuperPaint was among the earliest computer technology used pixel art and it is capable of both bitmap painting and vector drawing simultaneously. It was been published by Silicon Beach Software and originally released in 1986 for the Apple Macintosh.

Most Pixel Art are usually created to look as two-dimensional character or object.

A high quality Pixel Art has always comes with a fine pixel line (without jaggy line), detailed drawing with a combination of shading, shadows and highlights.

There are some skills you need to master for creating high quality Pixel Art. A technique they called ‘dithering’ is commonly used for creating fined Pixel Art. Similar to “cross-hatching”in fine art, dithering is using only two basic colors to create more color shades combination, mostly it create four different shades of colors.

There are few good programs for creating good pixel art I could name one is Pixen for Mac users.

However, you can actually create a simple pixel art with Photoshop just by using the ‘pencil tool’. (we will talk further on this one some other post)

All of the above Pixel Art are created by eBoy consist of three creative artist from German, there are Kai Vermehr, Steffen Sauerteig and Svend Smital.

Here are another of my favorite artist that create amazing Pixel Art:

Army of Trolls

RodHunt

Cubical Constructor

Bug Pixel

Hope you enjoy reading.. let me know if you have other amazing Pixel Art out there..

you truly enjoy this, you definitely would like to follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my RSS Feed for more cool stuff coming your way!

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Wishing all readers a beautiful Holiday Season and a New Year of peace and happiness.. May beautiful moments and happy memories surround you with joy in 2011!

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Today I’m giving absolutely FREE set of iPad wallpaper.. this officially be the first set wallpaper I made for the iPad which I named it as ‘Experience Your Thought’. All design comes with iPad actual screen size of 1024 x 768 at 132 resolution.

Download iPad wallpaper 01

Download iPad wallpaper 02

Download iPad wallpaper 03

Download iPad wallpaper 04

If you truly enjoy this, you definitely would like to follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my RSS Feed for more cool stuff coming your way!

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Just a quick promo.. for those art lovers out there who happen to be at Kuala Lumpur somewhere nearby today, come vist The National Art Gallery at Jalan Tun Razak here in Kuala Lumpur for a 10 days art pieces shopping! There will be paintings, scultures, artworks and various merchandises open up for sale at an affordable prices..

Event: Year End Sale@Gallery Shop
Venue: National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
Date: 15th Dec - 24th Dec 2010
for more info artgallery.gov.my

Come join the crowds! it’s FREE admission.

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It’s been a year since my previous post featuring the winners of Photographer of The Year (POTY) 2009 and just recently, Photo Radar has exclusively revealed the overall winner.

Big congrats to Jon Wright from Australia who won himself the main title which brings him £10,000 smiling back home. Jon Wright took this shot with his Canon EOS 40D and is titled Exit Wave. There are total of 30 final winning images in a number of categories winners which you’ll see after the jump. There are also a new category on the line called Portfolio category and the lucky winner for this new category is LJ. Lj receives a Canon EOS 7D Digital SLR camera with 18-135mm EF-S lens along with an invitation to submit a body of work free of charge for a Licentiateship assessment with the Royal Photographic Society. Isn’t that cool..

Those who don’t know, The Photographer of The Year is an annual photography competition opens for professionals, amateur photographers around the globe. You may submit your favorite photos on any categories tahhat suits with your photography skills and techniques. Here are the final winning images..

Fashion category Winners:

1st place, Painting by Joanna Kustra from UK. Taken with Nikon D3

2nd place, White by Joanna Kustra from UK. Taken with Nikon D3

3rd place, Untitled by Yulia Gorodinski from Israel. Taken with Canon 400D/Rebel XTi

Joy category winners:

1st place, Joy Of Nature by Nimai Chandra Ghosh from India. Taken with Nikon CoolPix L16

2nd place, The-getaway by Richard James Taylor from UK. Taken with Canon EOS 5D Mark II

3rd place, Chair-o-Planes by Andrew Rutherford from UK. Taken with Nikon D300

Landscapes category winners:

1st place, Roker Pier by Jeff Vyse from UK. Taken with Nikon D90

2nd place, The Trees Dance by Pierre Pellegrini from Switzerland. Taken with Phase One P20+

3rd place, Strike by Alisdair Miller from UAE. Taken with Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III

Portraits category winners:

1st place, Aldonas History by Anna Bodnar from Poland. Taken with FUJI FinePix S5Pro

2nd place, Watchmaker by Enzo Penna from Italy. Taken with Nikon D300

3rd place, Panini Girl by Marek Tkaczyk from Poland. Taken with Nikon D300s

Britain Inspired category winners:

1st palce, Man Utd Twins by Andrew Lever from UK. Taken with Nikon D300

2nd place, Reflecting by Ben Bruce from UK. Taken with Nikon D300

3rd place, 9.20 to London by Graham Love from UK. Taken with Leica M8

Creative License category winners:

1st place, Jump by Wayne Lawes from UK. Taken with Mamiya 645AFD

2nd place, Cyborg Kiss by John Leech from UK. Taken with Nikon D300

3rd place, Wallflower by Carla Broekhuizenh from Netherlands. Taken with Nikon D300

Documentary category winners:

1st place, Scavenger In Jakarta by Joakim Behrman from UK. Taken with Nikon D300

2nd place, Superman In Cardiff by Maciej Dakowicz from UK. Taken with Canon EOS 5D Mark II

3rd place, Market Town by James Mortram from UK. Taken with Nikon D200

Wildlife winners:

1st place, Ci Luk Baaaa by Andiyan Lutfi from Malaysia. Taken with Canon EOS 40D

2nd place, Movement Of Life by Buchachon Petthanya from Thailand.

3rd place, The Polar Bear by Tilly Meijer from Netherlands. Taken with Nikon D300

Travel winners:

1st place, Journey Of Ocean Life by Kamarulzaman Russali from Malaysia.Taken with Canon EOS 7D

2nd place, Somewhere In Hungary by Zoltan Balogh from Hungary.

3rd place, Bathroom Landscape by Slawek Kozdrashy from UK. Taken with Panasonic DMC-FX01

Adrenaline winners:

1st place, Exit Wave by Jon Wright from Australia. Taken with Canon EOS 40D

2nd place, Fire Fighter by Buchachon Petthanya from Thailand. Taken with Canon EOS 40D

3rd place, Football Fans In The Club by Maciej Dakowicz from UK. Taken with Canon EOS 5D

Portfolio category winners:

Congratulations to all winners! Same contest opens next year, I bet some of you would love to try their luck then.. if you didn’t win, still its okay, at least you’re among other professionals and amateur around the globe who join the fun. In case you didn’t know, there is also a competition for Young Photographer of The Year, head over to browse the final winners of The Young Photographer of The Year2010.

Have fun viewing!

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Holaa.. how you guys been doing, hoping all just good. Today, we’re going all the way to Madrid, Spain for some cool interview with digital illustrator and also a computer programmer named Drfranken who loved dark art very much. Those who have missed my previous interview with Kevin Roodhorst, click here to read full interview.

Briefly tell us little bit about yourself, and what you do?
I started my carrier in the world of digital illustration, after finishing my studies as a computer programmer, but my passion for art and design came since childhood. My father was a great artist. He painted using all sorts of techniques such as oil, charcoal, pencil, watercolor. My mother also paints very well and loves arts very much. For several years, I experimented with different techniques, tools and media and now I’m more focused on the digital art and my current job is software developer of electric engineering.

Tell us your typical or daily source of inspirations?
I am inspired by everything around me, the cinema, the street, internet, and especially the dark environments and black color. I’m a fan of dark art.

How is your frequent design working process like from scrath to the final artworks?
Every project I do is divided into several phases, first step is to study each project and collect as much information as possible by looking through related images, text, references and shoot some pictures. Once we have a clear idea, I usually select a techniques which I will use for such combination of a 3D element, photo retouching, vector, airbrush, etc.. The creative process and production will usually starts from here. If you perform a preliminary study of the project, it is a lot easier to adapt for customer delivery at the end process. Before conclude, I will seek an adequate lighting elements to the overall scene and finally chose a proper name that best suits your art piece.

How you improve the skills and ideas in your digital drawing techniques?
The best way to improve your skills is practice and experimentation. I love experimenting with new codes and software. Create textures, enhance details, etc..

Tell us which are your most favorite artworks among many of your creative art piece and why?
The truth, is that each piece has special meaning for me and I give them the same importance. Each was performed at a different mood and I like that way.

Tell us what is your favorite softwares and hardware you currently use?
I use many software programs and I’m developing tools for the creation of certain effects. For the 3D and rendering, I use C4D and 3D Max. For the composition of the pieces and some effects, I´m using Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, etc. As for the hardware , Wacom Intuos Tablet, Mac and as well as Windows.

Tell us about your mentor or idol?
I’ve always found exceptional the work of Salvador Dali, an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

Do you have any up coming projects you want to share with us?
and tell us your goals for your career?We are currently working on some projects with clients and a few surprises that will be arriving soon…

What is the biggest achievement you’ve achieved so far?
Devote myself to what I love, digital art and software programming.

Now comes to my favorite question.. If you’re not a digital illustrator or designer today, what will you possibly be by now?
I think the answer in my case is pretty easy, since my current job is computer programmer and software developer for combined cycle power plants and other type of energy plants such as eolic parks and hydraulic plants; if not devote myself to this, I think I would devote to other thing in relation to my true passion, the art and creativity.

Any advice or tips you like to share for junior designers and illustrator out there?
I think the best advice I can give is that they are perseverance in their work and to strive to improve every day a little more.

Lastly, me at esharkdesign.com would like to say big thank you for this interview and wishing you all the very best! and to finalize, I leave the last words for you..
Thank you very much for this fantastic interview. I wish you all the best and a creative future with EsharkDesign.

For those who interested more of Drfranken’s creative art piece, you may visit his official portfolio site nastplas.com. Hope you guys have happy reading the interview and don’t miss coming interview by subscribe to my RSS Feed! or simply follow me on Twitter. Get inspired!

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The new MacBook Air now comes with great battery life, amazing standby time and solid state storage. Available in 11” and 13” of high-res LED-backlit glossy widescreen and the new MacBook Air is now even thinner and lighter compare to the old version. The new MacBook Air also features a whole brilliant trackpad with full Multi-Touch support which I would say a total awesome while the new FaceTime camera inside the MacBook Air unibody display is even thinner than the one you get on the iPhone 4.

What’s new on MacBook Air?
• Flash storage, standby mode for up to 30 days
• Brilliant Multi-Touch trackpad
• Long lasting battery
• Face Time camera
• NVIDIA GeForce Graphics processors

Multi-Touch function on the new MacBook Air

However, based on my Mac-nerd opinion I would say this new MacBook Air is built NOT for Mac designers or even Mac photographers which require a full workload on their Mac system work flow, MacBook Air will suits just brilliantly for law students or businessman or even your mom.

Here are some technical specifications you would like to know:

Dimension
Height : 0.3-1.7 cm (11”) / 0.3-1.7 cm (13”)
Width : 29.95 cm (11″) / 32.5 cm (13″)
Depth : 19.2 cm (11”) / 22.7 cm (13”)
Weight : 1.06 kg (11”) / 1.32 kg (13”)

Display
• 11.6-inch & 13.3-inch (diagonal)
• high-resolution LED-backlit glossy widescreen
• 1366 px by 768 px (11′) / 1440 px by 900 px (13″)

Processor
• 11-inch : 1.4GHz or 1.6GHz
• 13-inch : 1.86GHz or 2.13GHz

Storage
• 11-inch : Flash Storage 64GB or Flash Storage 128GB
• 13-inch : Flash Storage 128GB or Flash Storage 256GB

Memory
• 11-inch & 13-inch : 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM onboard (4GB maximum)

Power and battery
• Built-in 50-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
• Wireless : Up to 7 hours
• Standby time : Up to 720 hours

Check out on Apple’s official site for further detail spec of the new MacBook Air.

No doubt at the end, MacBook Air is still the thinnest and lightest Mac notebook ever built..

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iPhone users should have not missed this super cool apps especially when they are the photographers or even designers in profession.

Adobe Photoshop Express (formerly known as Mobile.Photoshop.com) has come to a new name just recently following to its latest updates to Version 1.3.2. With the latest version, the Adobe Photoshop Express is now initially support for iPad, updates UI, bug fixes and performance improvements.

As for the iPad users, Adobe Photoshop Express support for portrait and landscape orientations,ability to redesigned while online, edit and upload workflows, also users will have the ability to work on multiple photos in sequence from within a single workflow, and ability to upload photoshop.com and Facebook simultaneously.. isn’t that cool!

For newbies to the iPhone or iPad and still looking for the best apps for their photo gallery workflow, I strongly recommend Adobe Photoshop Express, get your FREE download here!

Enjoy!

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To those who are still in the middle of planning to buy mobile phone as their very first real smart phone and really stuck with loads of line up choices as the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and much more, here I got some info graphic from NewGadget about iPhone 4 vs Nokia N8 that I just digged over today, really cool info to all Nokia and Apple lovers.. but I still stick with the iPhone anyway.

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Hi everyone! If you are following from my previous Interviews with one young designer from Lithuania, today, we’re going to have another interview with another highly talented + young designer who came from the land of the Dutch, Netherlands. Let me introduce to all, this talent comes by the name Kevin Roodhorst, a 19 year old digital graphic artist who likes to experiment different graphic effects on photographed subjects using Cinema 4D to make 3D objects with creative light effects and renders.

Lets read on the full interview after the jump..

Briefly tell us little bit about yourself and what you do?
I started to work with the Adobe software when I was 15 years old. At first, I was following some tutorials over the internet and I enjoy looking at the creative works made by other designers. I started made various cd covers and posted it online on some websites, and as the result I was getting many positive responds. While at the age of 17, I’ve got my first paid assignment, and it’s a poster for a kick-boxing competition. Now I’m 19 and I’ve worked for 22 different night clubs doing their promo flyers, posters and banners. As of today, I’m enjoy what I do and I’m also featured in four Design Magazines; Advanced Photoshop, Digital Arts, Publish, Computer Arts Magazine. I also made some drink and tobacco labels.

Where did you usually source for good inspirations?
Frankly, my inspiration mostly came from the internet, movies and the way how other designers creating their art pieces. Also graphic sites and blogs such as; Abduzeedo, Behance, DeviantArt, Designflavr, DesignYouTrust, FromUpNorth, TutorArt making designers inspired all the time.

What is your frequent design working process like? and how long would it takes to finish?
Firstly, I need to get some fresh inspiration for my new project. Usually, I gathered stock photos over the internet or else using my own photos, then later on I will proceed with the process of cutting out the objects, putting them together and adding several creative lights and color effects to get some juice out of it. And lastly, a nice title for the project.

Can you tell us among many of your creative art piece, which are your most favorite one and why?
My most favorite creations are Ancient Rituals, Abstract Africa, Imagination and Secrets Of Egypt. Because of the colors, composition and the feeling I get when I look at those art pieces.

How did you improve the skills and ideas in your digital drawing techniques?
To improve your skills is to practice and practice and practice very often, also I love lots experimenting on the techniques.

What are the softwares + hardwares you currently use to produce your such magnificent art?
I’m using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Cinema 4D. Cinema 4D mainly is for rendering and other 3D objects. As for Illustrator are used for lines and other drawing effects. While Photoshop to put everything together like shadows, lighting effects, colors and finishing touch. Hardware: 24inch screen and a Wacom Bamboo.

Tell us about your mentor or idol?
The work of Peter Jaworowski is really amazing, very inspiring. http://www.behance.net/thehejz

If you don’t mind telling us again, what are your coming projects? and what are your goals or future plans for your career?
Well, when I finish my study, I’m planning to get a work with an advertising agency and putting more time into my personal projects as a freelancer.

Beside of your creative artworks has been published into Advanced Photoshop Magazine, What are other biggest achievement you’ve achieved so far?
My biggest achievements are definitely the magazine features. Advanced Photoshop, Publish Magazine and Digital Arts Magazine.

If you’re not a designer/illustrators, what will you possibly be now?
Difficult question! I think I might be a computer technician.. ha! ha! Well, that’s what I did before my graphic design studies.

What sort of advice you can share to young designers and illustrators out there?
Practice a lot, watch tutorials on the internet and believe in yourself and focus on what you want the most. Lastly you have to always keep the motivation at a higher level.

Lastly, me at esharkdesign.com would like to say thank you very much again for this interview and wishing you all the very best! to finalize, I leave the last words for you.
Thank you again for this opportunity. I wish you all the best and good luck with esharkdesign.com.

There you go guys.. hope you all enjoy the interview and to those who interested to see more of Kevin’s creative art piece, you may visit his official portfolio site kevinroodhorst.com. While those who have missed previous interviews with, Rokas Mezetis, read full interview here!

Make sure you guys don’t miss another coming interview with great digital artist around the globe just by subscribe to my RSS Feed! or simply follow me on Twitter.

Get inspired!

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