For all you Photoshop brush junkies out there, here’s a Mac OS X Quick Look plugin to preview Photoshop Brush Files (.abr) in the Finder.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

OS X QuickLook Plugin for Photoshop Brush Files is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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A handy, exhaustive resource on Greek key border patterns, including a handy online Greek key border pattern generator to create dozens of variations.

I recently worked on a project where I was in need of creating a Greek key border, and while I needed to manually create a border pattern in Adobe Illustrator, this site was extremely useful in deciphering the geometry behind how Greek key patterns are generated.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Greek Key Border Pattern Generator is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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I recently needed to explain to a client the basic differences between Raster and Vector graphics, and came across this handy Raster and Vector Graphics overview at Mike’s Sketchpad.

While the explanation there is a nice summary, I would recommend any Adobe Illustrator (or other vector graphics software) users out there do a bit more research into vector art.

However for a quick explanation for a client or a non-vector graphics friend, the overview linked above pretty much sums it up as much as a non-vector art geek wants to know about the topic.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Raster and Vector Graphics — An Overview is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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A cool resource for Star Wars geeks (like me) out there looking for vector art of the logos/insignias for the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire, seen throughout the original Star Wars trilogy.

These files are vector artwork, and free downloads. Enjoy!

Xaonon • Free Download: Star Wars Insignias Vector Graphics

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Star Wars Insignias — Free Vector Art Downloads is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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A non-cartooning post here, but when I run into issues with the blog and find solutions for the errors, I like to pass them along.

I recently had a bizarre problem with this blog: the Sidebar was appearing way at the bottom of the home page, at the end of the last post entry. I saw some potential fixes for this on the wondeful web, and all seemed to point at an unclosed < div > tag. 

My first mistake was looking at the most recent post (which had an oversized image that I fixed). turns out the error cropped up a couple posts earlier and I just hadn’t been to the home page in a while to notice.

The fix was indeed < div > tag related. Here’s how I fixed it after a bunch of troubleshooting and scouring the code — or rather how it was introduced into the post in the first place and how to avoid it…

The short answer is that I had introduced these errant div tags into the post by copying and pasting a post in the Visual Editor mode from a Page to a Post (I had inadvertently created a Page instead of a Post, and so just copy/pasted the content — which included an image — from the Page via the visual editor to a new Post via the visual editor.

I am not sure if the image had anything to do with it, but I am guessing this is probably the case.

I thought I would post this for anyone else out there having a similar issue.

In summary:

• If you are having issues with your WordPress sidebar jumping to the bottom of your home page, check the HTML of all the posts currently featured on the home page — most likely one of them has those div tags in there

• Take this as a warning to use the HTML editor in WordPress if you need to copy/paste from a Post or Page to another Post or Page.

Also a thanks to Serge Madenian, his post on the ’sidebar at bottom’ issue led me to look into the div tag as a possible culprit. And although I found the problem in the meantime, he had quickly replied to my comment on his posts asking for assistance. Thanks Serge!

*** Note: For what it’s worth, I did this using the Safari browser in OS X 10.5 — not sure if this plays a part or not but thought I would mention it.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

WordPress Sidebar At Bottom? Div Tags Via Copy/Paste In Visual Editor is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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A collection of links to twenty great comics and cartooning tutorials over at PSDtuts. Lots of tips for inking in both Photoshop and Illustrator, coloring, using Photoshop layers to your advantage, achieving halftone effects and other comic-book style looks to your art.

A great resource. You can never have too much information about how other artists use graphics software to create their work. I often take tips from multiple tutorials and create my own workflow from just a tip here and a technique there.

Not all of the  tutorials will apply to your style, but I highly recommend reading over all of them. As I mentioned, lots of these tips and walkthroughs go through methods of working in Photoshop and illustrator and even if the style isn’t what you are looking for, there will definitely be a technique or two that will come in handy. Always good to add to your arsenal of Photoshop techniques.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

20 Comic & Cartooning Photoshop Tutorials is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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The Designer’s Toolbox looks to be a handy one-stop shop for free templates, specs, dimensions, and information for standard postcards, envelopes, CD/DVD layouts, HTML characters, and more.

They also offer contract and business form templates for a small fee. These include:

Contract Forms

• Client Contract
• Subcontractor Contract
• Website Maintenance Contract

Client Management Forms

• Client Weekly Status Report
• Meeting Agenda
• Client Questionnaire
• Strategic Brief Template
• Creative Brief Template

Business Operations Forms

• Client Expense Report
• Invoice Template
• Monthly Expense Report
• Monthly Revenue Report
• Yearly Revenue and Expense Report
• Daily Timesheet
• Weekly Schedule

Project Estimation Forms

• Project Scope Questionnaire
• Advertising & Direct Mail Estimate Worksheet
• Logo Project Estimate Worksheet
• Website and Flash Estimate Worksheet
• Print Project Estimate Worksheet
• Small Agency Project Estimation Worksheet
• Formal Client Estimate Document

and much more.

via Creattica

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

The Designer’s Toolbox: Free Print & Web Design Resources is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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Go Media has a free skull reference photo over at their blog. It features a human skull at 15 different angles in one high-resolution Photoshop file.

A perfect resource for running through some Photoshop filters or as a reference for tracing. head over to Go Media to download the file.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Free Skull Reference Photos is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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