How to illustrate animal eyes

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/pCj04eI5SYw/how-to-illustrate-animal-eyes

When learning how to draw animals, one tricky aspect to manage is the eyes. There are some critical – yet simple – steps and techniques to follow that will improve your artwork.

Because the viewer of your image will be drawn to the animal's eyes, you need to depict them correctly. It's a good idea to practice sketching different eyes to become familiar with their structure. Draw what’s there, rather than what you think should be there.

Here we'll walk through the key considerations to make when drawing feline eyes. In this case we're drawing a leopard, using pastel pencils  on Clairefontaine Pastelmat, but these same principles will apply for drawing the eyes of most animals.

Once you've watched the video above, use our written steps below to help you draw your own realistic animal eyes.

01. Study animal anatomy

sketch of an eye with parts labelled

Getting the anatomy right will help you draw the eye correctly

Being aware of the eye’s anatomy will help you understand where everything should be and what happens to the fur or skin covering that area. For example, the lacrimal gland over this eye will cause the fur to curve up and over it, ridging slightly to form the eyebrow and giving a shadow underneath it. Reflect that when you add the fur.

02. Emphasise the eyeball

eye shaded in

Shading will help curve the eyeball

This sketch shows how the underlying structures influence form. Remember that the eyeball is a sphere, and not a flat disc with the top covered by the upper eyelid. Check the pupil placement on your reference image, as it’s tempting to place it in the centre of the eyeball portion that you can see. Here, use a paper stump to smudge shadows under the lower lid.

03. Reflect what they see

sketch of an eye with pupil coloured in

Imagine what the animal is viewing for real authenticity

You’ll only see a perfectly round white-dot reflection if the eyeball is reflecting a cloudless sky with a bright sun. Typically, the reflection will contain trees or similar structures, as is the case in the example here, where there's blue sky at the top and a band of white cloud reflected in the iris, filled in with a range of ochres.

04. Draw furry surroundings 

sketch of leopard eye next to image of a leopard

The area around the eye is important in creating a lifelike drawing

At this point you can add in the surrounding texture – in this case, the fur. The comparison helps to gauge the strength of the colours in the iris and to adjust the values correctly.

You’ll also be able to see where the shadows and highlights need to be deepened or lightened – typically on the eyeball under the brow, and in the corners.

This article originally appeared in Paint & Draw magazine. 

Related articles:

How to draw and paint – 100 pro tips and tutorialsHow to start pastel drawingHow to draw a bear

5 Ways to Keep Designing When the Power is Out

Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/08/5-ways-to-keep-designing-when-the-power-is-out/

There’s a certain peace to be found at night, when the world goes dark and silent. You might settle down on the couch for a moment, and just soak in the absence of noise and bustle. However, if you’re at work, and the world goes dark and silent, it’s a lot less comforting.

At the very least, it means a delay in your work. If you’re a freelancer, that could very well mean a delay in getting paid. It’s stressful, and it can happen anywhere, to anyone. First world countries can’t always prevent power-outs. Countries like Mexico can set their clocks by them. How do you know it’s rainy season? The power’s out. Oh, and the rain.

Now, this isn’t always a terrible thing. A break might be just what you need to gather your thoughts, relax, and get ready to work like mad when the power’s back. Or, you know, you might just relocate to a place that has power and wi-fi, if that’s an option.

But what if it isn’t? Let’s say all of your machines are desktops, and you’re expected to stay in the office. I mean, power-outs don’t usually last all day. And maybe you have a tight deadline. How can you stay busy, and perhaps actually make some progress before the lights come back? Well, let’s start with the more practical ideas:

1. Brainstorm

If you’re lucky, or at least less unlucky, then this is happening during the planning stages of your design and development cycle. So start planning. There’s nothing stopping you from grabbing your coworkers (if you’re not a one-person studio), and brainstorming the time away. Throw some ideas around!

Now, assuming you already have some plans, you could go over them. Well, if you printed them. Or, go back and revisit ideas that you might have decided to talk about later. Well, it’s later now, and you don’t have anything better to do.

Go over the core of your current plans, see how they could be improved. With the ability to jump straight into the work taken away from you, you might see something you missed, or you might come up with something better.

2. Wireframe on Paper

Now, assuming this isn’t already a part of your process, grab a pencil and some paper, and start drawing out ideas fast. If you’ve already done some of the actual mockup work, try drawing out bits of the interface from memory. Use these drawings in your brainstorming session to see if you can’t come up with something better.

If you already have some hand-drawn wireframes, haul them out and keep iterating. Even if you don’t use the new or updated designs, they might help you to remember why you made certain design decisions in the first place. If nothing else, affirmation is motivating.

3. Develop a Paper Prototype

If you have a lot of downtime, why not try your hand at some arts and crafts? Paper prototypes are basically layers of paper designed to imitate a digital interface. Putting one together will give you a prototype you can actually touch and (to a very limited extent) interact with. All you really need is a paper, a pen(cil), and some scissors. Heck, work on it enough, and perhaps you could show it to your boss or clients later, to help answer any questions they might have.

Here’s a great article on how to make paper prototypes, with examples.

4. Grab a Book

Okay, so you’ve done all the planning you’re ever going to do. Or there’s no point because the plan has gotten sign-off from above, and everything is set in corporate stone, for now at least. What next? Grab a book. Specifically grab a book on web design, typography, accessibility, branding, graphics, or anything else you can imagine!

And don’t let anyone tell you that continuing to educate yourself, grounding yourself in basic principles, or just seeking inspiration isn’t a practical thing to do. The results will show themselves when the power comes back on, and you tackle the project with new vigor, and perhaps some new insight.

5. Try your hand at predicting the future

Okay, I am not one of those guys who will tell you that visualizing success is the key to achieving it. Doing stuff and not sucking at it is mostly the key to success. However, taking some time to visualize the future of what you’re building is still a useful thing to do in small doses. Just sit there, alone or with colleagues, and imagine the thing is already built. Picture your users, and the way they might integrate your product into their lives. Make it a meditative thing.

Spend five minutes on this if you’re a normal person. If you’re an over-thinker like me, maybe schedule a solid hour. Either way, you may very well come out of this exercise with a renewed will to make it happen. Or better yet, you might identify some previously unforeseen issues, and address them before they ever become a problem.

And hey, this is something you can do even if you don’t have enough natural light for most of the other things on this list.

Conclusion

A power-out doesn’t mean your work has to come to a complete, screeching halt. Mind you, it’s not a terrible thing if it does. Unexpected breaks are good for people. But if you just have to keep going, you can often make tangible progress with a little creativity. Otherwise, you can at least make sure you’re ready to tackle your work with a vengeance as soon as the lights come back on.

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37 beautiful band logo designs to be inspired by

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/P-TvMXgw3xM/band-logo-12121502

What makes a great logo design for a band? A clever concept and the ability to become just as iconic as the music is a good start, but originality is just as important.

From hard rock to pop, we've picked some of our favourite band logo designs – including some old favourites as well as some newcomers. Be inspired by these beautiful band logos, all of which boast stand-out quality.

01. Run the Jewels

Run the jewels logo

RTJ’s logo has been through a few revisions over the years

Hip hop supergroup Run the Jewels have grabbed plenty of headlines over the past few years with their first album and various tracks released for free online, all of them featuring a variation on the same logo: a pair of hands, one in the shape of a gun and the other clutching a thick gold chain. It's the work of artist Nicholas Gazin, and RTJ's El-P revealed the thinking behind it over on Instagram in 2015; he published a screenshot of an email to Gazin in which he explains that the gun hand is robbing the hand holding the chain.

02. Ho99o9

Ho9909 band logo

Ho9909 = horror

We weren't sure what to make of Ho99o9's name when we first saw it; were they supposed to be called Hoggog or something? But no, the nines in their name are there instead of the letter r, and it's really Horror. We're not sure why exactly, but we do know that it fits perfectly with their slightly terrifying DIY hardcore punk/hip hop mashup aesthetic.

03. The Monkees

Monkees logo

The classic Monkees logo still looks good, 50 years later

Infamously manufactured for TV, The Monkees still had a bunch of great tunes – thanks to a roster of top songwriters and session musicians – and a fantastic guitar-shaped logo, conceived by the show's publicity man and drawn for $75 by Nick LoBianco. It's stood the test of time, still looking fresh on the cover of 2016's Good Times, the band's first album in 20 years.

04. Unkle

Unkle band logo

Graffiti artist Futura 2000 helped define much of Unkle’s visual identity

American graffiti artist Futura 2000 (now known as plain Futura) had form as an illustrator and graphic designer for music, most notably for his work on The Clash's Combat Rock. But it was his work for James Lavelle's Mo' Wax records that really launched his design career, and which also led to him creating the logo and other imagery for Lavelle's Unkle project. The two scratchy, pointy-headed alien figures are a perfect match for the first Unkle album, Psyence Fiction.

05. Adam and the Ants

adam and the ants logo

Danny Kleinman went on to create the title sequences for James Bond films

Adam Ant, with his background of art school and the DIY punk ethos, always had a keen interest in getting his band's image right. From his early punk singles, for which he drew the cover artwork himself, through to his later chart toppers, he'd mastermind powerful, eye-catching looks, and this Adam and the Ants logo, designed by Danny Kleinman and known as the Warrior Ant, is a corker.

06. The Doors

Band logo designs - The Doors

The reflective “o” of The Doors’ typography remains iconic

Simple and iconic. This bold, geometric design with the tiny, psychedelic and italicised 'THE' is perhaps one of the most recognised band logotypes in the world. Perfectly summing up the trippy, hippie counter-culture of the late '60's, The Doors didn't need a symbol or an image. Their typographic design remains just as fresh to new eyes today as it did to the kids of the swinging sixties.

07. Dream Theater

Band logo designs - Dream Theater

Dream Theater kept hold of their majesty logo, even with a new vocalist and band name

Progressive metal band, Dream Theater's "majesty symbol" is a reimagining of Mary, Queen of Scots' mark. Designed by former vocalist, Charlie Dominici, when the band was still known as Majesty (hence the symbol's title) the band kept the logo and it has gone on to feature on nearly every Dream Theater release.

08. The Dead Kennedys

Band logo designs - Dead Kennedys

An iconic punk symbol that is as easily graffitied as an anarchy sign

Designed by artist Winston Smith, the Dead Kennedys DK logo is a perfect example of simple, easily imitable graphic design. Singer Jello Biafra is quoted as saying, "I wanted to make sure it was something simple and easy to spray-paint so people would graffiti it all over the place."

After showing it to Smith, he "came back with a bunch of designs that had the circle and slightly 3D-looking letters and he had ones with different patterns behind it. I liked the one with bricks, but ultimately I thought simple red behind it was the boldest and the best."

09. Gorillaz

Band logo designs - Gorillaz

Gorillaz are virtual, and arguably the entire band is a logo for their creators’ project

This entire band is arguably a logo, a brand and no doubt a great achievement in design. However, the graffiti-styled typeface is a recognisable testiment to how simply you can sum up your band, just by picking the right font. This typographic post-apocalyptic street art homage encapsulates the political aesthetics that Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett were so keen to capture.

10. Nirvana

Band logo designs - Nirvana

The Nirvana logo is easily one of the most recognisable in the music industry

One of the most recognisable logos in music history, the Nirvana logo design has been a common sight T-shirts for over two decades. Featuring an Onyx typeface and a smiley face – said to be inspired by a strip club in Seattle – the juxtaposing colours make this an iconic band logo design.

11. Weezer

Band logo designs - Weezer

The logo design was created by the band’s drummer

Designed by the band's drummer, Patrick Wilsen, in 1993, the Weezer logo was originally in lower case. The 'flying W' used the Futura Medium font before a few alterations were made. Fans are known to recreate this logo design at shows using hand signals, proving its worth and success in creating a brand for the band.

12. Jurassic 5

 35 beautiful band logo designs - J5

The band logo perfectly encorporates the ‘J’ and ‘5’ into the design

Perfectly encorporating both the 'J' and the '5' to portray Jurassic 5, this is an epic hip-hop logo that allows the design to be featured on a range of records thanks to its circular design. Designed by band member Charlie "Chali 2na" Stewart, it's been produced in a wide range of colours for much of the band's merchandise and remains a strong contender as one of the best band logos.

13. Public Image Ltd

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Public Image Limited

Dennis Morris created the logo for the band back in 1979

Renowned photographer Dennis Morris was responsible for the design of Public Image Ltd's logo. Known for photographing The Sex Pistols and Bob Marley, Morris created this band logo design back in 1979. He also produced the iconic Metal Box packaging for the band, which is still regarded as one of the best album artworks of all time.

14. The KLF

 35 beautiful band logo designs - The KLF

Perfectly shaped for vinyl, this is the perfect logo for the acid house group

Situationist pranksters and acid house pioneers, the KLF also had a razor-sharp eye for iconography, which manifested itself in their record covers, their videos, their legendary Top of the Pops performances and, of course, their logos. Their pyramid blaster logo, perfectly shaped for vinyl, is a masterpiece; naturally, both Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty of the KLF now work as artists.

15. Metallica

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Metallica

The Metallica logo showcases everything that a metal logo should be

Created by Turner Duckworth, the famous Metallica logo got a redesign back in 2008. Based on the band's original version from 1981, Duckworth also designed the identity and packaging for the band's album Death Magnetic. Like countless other metal bands, Metallica's own take on the metal aesthetic is something that their fans cherish; whether it be in the form of tattoos or scrawlings on school books.

16. Sunn O)))

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Sunn

A member of Sunn is responsible for the band’s art direction

As one half of the seismic drone-rock band Sunn O))), not only does Stephen O'Malley help to make some fantastic music – he also oversees the design and art direction of their releases. The visual is an important component to Sunn's music and O'Malley has certainly triumphed with this long-standing, striking logo.

17. Kavinsky

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Kavinsky

Kavinsky is known for his electro 80s-inspired music

Making music reminiscent of '80s film soundtracks, French producer Vincent Belorgey – quite aptly – appeared on the opening credits for Nicolas Winding Refn’s movie Drive. It's easy to see why then, that his logo also evokes the sense of '80s movies; with it's retro-like font, it's the perfect accompaniment to his music.

18. Foo Fighters

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Foo Fighters

Another instantly recognisable band logo from The Foo Fighters

Another perfect example of a band logo that has proved popular with fan's tattoos, The Foo Fighters logo comprises of a circle motif containing two interlocking 'Fs' and the band's name in a slightly rounded and compact typeface. This is among the most popular and instantly recognisable logos in rock music.

19. The Ramones

 35 beautiful band logo designs - The Ramones

A longtime friend of the band designed the iconic logo

The Ramones' logo was designed by New York City artist Arturo Vega, a longtime friend who lived with several members of the band. It's proof that when you get a band logo right, it can go on to become one of the most iconic brands in the world. Basing it on The Presidential Seal, Vega wanted the design to portray an 'All-American Band’.

20. The XX

 35 beautiful band logo designs -The XX

The logo was created by one-time art student and band member Romy Madley Croft

This is a relatively new kid on the block, but boy, does it work. Bursting onto the music scene in 2009 with their self-titled debut album, the black and white 'X' across the front sleeve was just as eye-catching as the music was enticing.

This latest variation of the logo was designed by band member Romy Madley Croft; a one-time art student who used oil imagery to create the affect within the letter. This band logo is a perfect example branding that will continue to work through each album release.

21. Black Flag

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Black Flag

The logo was designed by Raymond Pettibon, who also came up with the band’s name

This has to be one of the most iconic band logos of all time. Created for Black Flag by guitarist and chief songwriter Greg Ginn's brother Raymond Pettibon, he once stated in an interview that the black flag design was designed to represent anarchy. The four black bars combined with the bold typography make for a solid band logo.

22. Run DMC

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Run DMC

The infamous logo is one of the only band logos to feature on a pair of Adidas sneakers

Run DMC broke barriers in music, which almost everyone in music today benefits from. Their logo is still one of the most prolific to ever grace the music industry and continues to adorn the chests and feet of hip-hop lovers across the globe. The solid typography and three-part colour scheme makes it infinitely timeless and it's also one of the only band logos to feature on a pair of Adidas sneakers.

23. Nine Inch Nails

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Nine Inch Nails

The typography is said to be inspired by a Talking Heads album cover

Designed by frontman Trent Reznor and Gary Talpas, the Nine Inch Nails logo is simplicity at its best. Featuring the letters set inside a thick border, the black and white creation first appeared on the band's debut album Down in it, which was released in 1989.

It's said to be inspired by Tibor Kalman's typography on the Talking Heads album Remain in Light.

24. Daft Punk

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Daft Punk

Daft Punk use some punky influence for their logo design

Evoking an extremely ‘punky’ look, the electronic duo produced one of the most well-known logos within the dance music scene. Designed by band member Guillaume Emmanuel “Guy-Manuel” de Homem-Christo, the logo ties in with the stand-out ethos of the pair. Using bold colours and textures, Daft Punk’s visuals are just as important as their tunes.

25. Public Enemy

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Public Enemy

It was announced today that the group are to be inducted into the Rock & Roll hall of fame

Another hip-hop gem in our list, this logo for Public Enemy was designed by Chuck D back in 1986. It was tightened up ahead of the release of Yo! Bum Rush The Show in 1987 by New York artist Eric Haze.

Many claim the target to be a state trooper but it is in fact a silhouette of a B-boy. It was also announced in 2013 that the group were to be added to the Rock & Roll hall of fame.

26. The Streets

 35 beautiful band logo designs - The Streets

The gritty typography effortlessly complements the lighter image

It may not be as iconic as our other inclusions but we just had to feature this logo from British group The Streets. Evoking the exact feel and message of their debut album Original Pirate Material, the gritty typography effortlessly complements the lighter image. There's been a few variations throughout their career but we love this original design.

27. Rolling Stones

 35 beautiful band logo designs - The Rolling Stones

The logo is said to be influenced by Mick Jagger’s huge lips

How could we not include this infamous logo from the rock legends themselves, The Rolling Stones? Created by John Pasche in 1971, the designer is said to have been influenced by Mick Jagger's appearance for the logo, stating that his lips were the first thing you noticed about him. The eye-popping offering has continued to work well for the band, who have been working in music for over 50 years.

28. Wu-Tang Clan

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Wu Tang Clan

By sticking with their original band logo, the group are instantly recognisable

The Wu-Tang ‘W’ is one of the most distinguishable logos in hip-hop culture, with its members adorning the ‘W’ on everything from clothing to chains, but it is most prominent on dozens of their album covers. Created by DJ and producer Mathematics, the band have stuck by the original design throughout their expansive career.

29. Yes

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Yes

A logo that perfectly sums up the music scene in the ’70s

English artist and graphic designer Roger Dean created this iconic, bubbly logo, which first debuted on the band's 1972 LP Close to the Edge. He also crafted Yes' album artwork and stage shows; solidifying the band's brand throughout the ages. It has had a variant of colours but that never makes the typography any less engaging. This is a logo that perfectly sums up the 1970s.

30. Buzzcocks

 35 beautiful band logo designs - The Buzzcocks

Malcolm went on to work with the band for several years after designing the logo in 1977

An simple yet instantly recognisable band logo, this one was created by Malcolm Garrett in early 1977. He went on to work with the band for several years throughout their career, creating visuals for promotional material. The fast, edgy and disjointed typography is the perfect personification of one of the greatest British bands.

31. Aphex Twin

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Aphex Twin

Paul ‘Terratag’ Nicholson was working with alien ‘vibes’ at the time of this logo creation

First appearing on the 1992 release of Xylem Tube, Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin has continued to use the logo throughout his impressive career. Designed by Paul 'Terratag' Nicholson, the logo evokes an unsettling yet beautiful image that wholly coincides with the impeccable music of Aphex Twin.

32. Death From Above 1979

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Death From Above

There’s no need for a name with this bold band logo design

An eye-popping and graphic design delight, this logo for Death From Above 1979 has graced the covers, stage shows, banners and posters for the noise rock duo since the beginning of their career. The bold choice of colour makes it a logo with a difference, with no need for a name as the logo is instantly recognisable.

33. Justice

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Justice

Choosing such a universal image for your band’s logo is a dangerous path!

Choosing to use such a universal symbol as your band's logo is a dangerous path. However, this creation for French electronic duo Justice just seems to work.

Band member Gaspard Augé once stated that the influence for the decision was 'that a music venue is like a church in that everyone is gathering together and focusing on one point.' The logo has adorned the band's live shows and album covers, becoming almost as synonymous as their songs.

34. Radiohead

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Radiohead

The logo was created for the release of Kid A

Radiohead haven't really had a regular band logo throughout their career but this is one that truly stands out (and adorns many a fan's body.) Designed by artist Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke, the 'modified bear' was created for the release of Kid A.

The name of the bear either ironically or purposely contributes to the influx of modern art without meaning, without complexity, and without use. If Radiohead's career is anything to go by, we're guessing it's on the ironic side of things.

35. Devin Townsend Project

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Devin Townsend

Less is more with this band logo design

A simple, typography-based logo design, this creation for the Devin Townsend Project combines the three initials of the band's name in two swoops. This band logo was added to the list on the suggestion of one of our Twitter followers. It was designed by Travis Smith and show us that sometimes less is more when it comes to band logos.

36. Outkast

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Outkast

The band refer to their logo in their song Morris Brown

The final hip-hop logo in our list, this creation for the duo evokes the fun aspect of their music. Featuring graffiti-like font complete with a crest and crown, the pair even comment on the logo during their song Morris Brown, stating "OutKast royalty by design of logo. Wanna count it out loud?"

37. Misfits

 35 beautiful band logo designs - Misfits

This is a band logo that has stood the test of time

The Misfits' skull logo first appeared on the Horror Business single, based on a poster for The Crimson Ghost. It proved so popular that the image quickly became the mascot for the band and has been used frequently on the band's releases and merchandise ever since. 

Related articles:

Quiz – guess the logo, can you identify these brands?The 27 greatest animated music videosThe best logos of all time

How to Build a Coach Holiday Showcase with WRLD

Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-build-a-coach-holiday-showcase-with-wrld/

This article was created in partnership with WRLD. Thank you for supporting the partners who make SitePoint possible.

Since the late 2000s, maps have been a staple of the web, and today are more ubiquitous than ever. They have a variety of uses, from complementing a company’s contact page to plotting places of interest across a geographic region. As computing power is becoming more affordable, 3D maps have gained popularity, demonstrating the scale of buildings and the nature of the surrounding terrain, adding a touch of novelty to such experiences, as well as providing practical benefits.

One such provider of 3D maps is WRLD. Major cities such as New York, London, Paris and Bangkok have been generated in 3D using real geographic data. This data can be used to author custom maps containing points of interest and other useful metadata, and thanks to their Leaflet-driven JavaScript library, it’s possible to drop them into a web page with a few lines of code; this workflow will be the focus of our article.

Using WRLD’s map designer, we will build a map for a coach holiday, which we will then integrate into a Node.js-powered website.

Getting Started

Before we can use WRLD’s map designer, we must register. Sign in once you’ve created and verified your account.

Navigate to the Map Designer. This page will list any maps that you have created, as well as allowing you to create new ones. Click on Create Map to launch the designer.

Together, we’re going to create a map for a Dundee food tour. Click New Map on the left and in the resultant New Map modal, enter a title of Dundee Food Tour and then hit Confirm New Map.

Specifying the map's title

Now that we’ve created our map, we need to choose a starting location. Click the menu button next to the search input, click Locations, and choose Dundee.

Selecting a location

Adding Our First Place

To add locations to our map, we have to use WRLD’s Places Designer, which facilitates the creation of place sets that can then be imported and reused.

On the right, click the place marker icon, followed by Manage Place Collections. This will open the designer at the same geographical location. Let’s add our first places collection by clicking New Places Collection. Set the title to Dundee Food Tour and then add a reference to our Dundee Food Tour app, which will link the places collection with our map. Finalise this with Confirm New Collection.

Creating a new place collection

Click New Place Marker next to the search box. A marker should appear on the Googleplex building, but it can be dragged into place if necessary. In the pane on the right, enter a title of Googleplex — this will save automatically.

Adding a new place marker

Add as many places as you’d like following this approach, and return to the Map Designer once you feel that you have enough. Our new collection should have been detected and automatically included in our map, but we can configure this manually by clicking the places marker on the right and selecting our place set.

Configuring our places collection for inclusion

Before we display the map on our website, we should set a starting point. Drag and zoom the map until you’ve found an optimal view, then, using the crosshair icon on the right, open the Opening Map View form and click Use Current Map View.

Setting the opening map view

Including the Map on a Website

Despite the impressively-detailed 3D modelling provided by WRLD, the real power of this platform is the ability to embed maps into websites and other applications. As well as exposing a variety of HTTP APIs for directly querying data, there are libraries for rendering maps on many platforms, including iOS, Android, and the web. We will use the wrld.js library, which is also available on npm.

Setting Up

The boilerplate website to which we will add our map can be found at GitHub. Please clone this repository and install the required dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/jamesseanwright/wrld-tours.git
cd wrld-tours
nvm install # this will install the version of Node.js found in .nvmrc. Make sure nvm is installed
npm i

To verify that the project works as expected, run npm run watch; this will start the project using nodemon, restarting automatically when any changes are made. Upon opening http://localhost:8001/trips in your browser, you should see a list of trips with a sole item.

Grabbing and Configuring your Developer Token

Our application will consume data from two of WRLD’s HTTP APIs, which are protected by developer tokens. To acquire your token, sign in and head over to the My Account section, and click the Developer Token tab; make sure you copy it.

Grabbing the developer token via the My Account page

In our app’s codebase, open config.json in the server directory, and paste your token as the value of devToken; this property will be used to make the aforemntioned API calls covered in the next step.

{
“devToken”: “insert your dev token here”
}

Calling WRLD’s HTTP APIs

Open the project in your editor, and head to the trips.json file in the server directory. This is a hash map of all of the available trips listed on our website, keyed by a hyphen-separated slug. These are accessible via the /trips route, so we can reach the Dundee Food Tour via /trips/dundee-food-tour. You’ll notice that the entry for the Dundee Food Tour has two empty properties, mapSceneId and poiSetId. We will return to this shortly.

Let’s take a look at the client-side code that fetches the map data. Open TripView.js (not TripViews.js) in the client/views directory and study the onNavigatedTo method. This calls two endpoints that are provided to the client by the server:

const [mapScene, poiSet] = await Promise.all([
callEndpoint(endpoints.mapScene),
callEndpoint(endpoints.poiSet),
]);

These don’t directly point to the WRLD APIs. Rather, they are exposed by our own server so that our developer token is not leaked to the browser. Let’s take a look at these routes in server/apiRouter.js:

router.get(‘/mapscenes/:id’, (req, res) => {
res.status(404).send();
});

router.get(‘/pois/:poiSetId’, (req, res) => {
res.status(404).send();
});

Currently, they behave as if they do not exist. To implement them, we can use the already-imported request module to forward our requests to the respective WRLD APIs and stream this back to the browser:

router.get(‘/mapscenes/:id’, (req, res) => {
request.get(`https://wrld.mp/v1.1/mapscenes/${req.params.id}?token=${config.devToken}`)
.pipe(res);
});

router.get(‘/pois/:poiSetId’, (req, res) => {
request.get(`https://poi.wrld3d.com/v1.1/poisets/${req.params.poiSetId}/pois/?token=${config.devToken}`)
.pipe(res);
});

Whenever the client-side JavaScript is evaluated for a trip, it will call these endpoints with the relevant IDs, keeping the developer token away from the browser.

Verifying Our Endpoints

To check that this has worked, we can call our own API endpoints directly. To get the respective IDs for our mapscene and place collection, we can call the WRLD APIs directory with our developer token, i.e.:

https://wrld.mp/v1.1/mapscenes/?token=[your dev token]
https://poi.wrld3d.com/v1.1/poisets/?token=[your dev token]

We can then take the id properties and pass them to our own local endpoints e.g. http://localhost:8001/api/mapscenes/10786 and http://localhost:8001/api/pois/4149. If we have implemented these routes correctly, then we should receive data from the WRLD APIs.

Updating the Trip Definition

Return to the trips.json file. Remember the two empty properties, mapSceneId and poiSetId? Set their respective values to the IDs you took for the mapscene and place collection e.g.:

“mapSceneId”: “10597”,
“poiSetId”: “4160”

Rendering the Map

We’re now ready to plot the API data onto a browser-rendered map. Let’s return to the TripView.js file.

The post How to Build a Coach Holiday Showcase with WRLD appeared first on SitePoint.

Announcing the SitePoint Blockchain Newsletter!

Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/announcing-the-sitepoint-blockchain-newsletter/

Sign up here to receive the weekly blockchain dispatch on Friday mornings PST.

Blockchain Newsletter

Whether it’s being hailed as a game-changer or derided as hype, blockchain is everywhere these days. But it’s hard to get trustworthy, unbiased news and tutorials about the tech. If you’re trying to enter the blockchain dev world, there’s a high price of entry.

Blockchain technology is useful for more than just cryptocurrency, and this newsletter will highlight some of the more interesting and exciting developments in this emerging field, along with ways to get started yourself.

You’ll get a curated selection of links sourced by me, Adam. You may know me from weekly Back-end and Design newsletters, or from Versioning, my daily newsletter and membership publication focused on the bleeding-edge of web dev and design. Now I want to expand my knowledge to the blockchain world – and I want you to join me.

Every Friday, you’ll receive a newsletter full of curated links that I’ve found useful in my own research, along with links to useful tools, tutorials and projects I think are worthwhile. Also, no scams!

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How to create a 3D effect with occlusion shadows

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/c1Rs3-ufnn4/occlusion-shadows-121518571

occlusion main image

Occlusion shadows help to push the three-dimensional feeling of what you’re painting. Look for areas enclosed by surfaces and notice how the shadows are always darker there

When doing detailed lighting work I’ve gotten into the habit of simplifying each step of the painting process as much as possible. Focusing my attention on one aspect at a time helps to not become overwhelmed and almost always results in a much more thorough job.

One step in that process is concentrating on occlusion shadows, which occur where surfaces come together. A basic rule of thumb is that wherever areas are closed in by surfaces, shadows will occur. The inside of a mouth or an eye socket for instance will almost always be darker than the top of the nose or the forehead.

They’re a form of shadows best noticeable when there’s no directional light present. So you can paint them on a separate layer without having to worry about the direction of the overall lighting, and then set that layer to Multiply to have it distribute the shadows on the objects below. In my example however, I do have a lighting scheme in mind with directional lights and cast shadows, but these build upon the occlusion shadows rather than replacing them.

01. Start simple

occlusion layers step 1

 Every good painting starts with a good foundation. In this case it’s a quick line drawing that looks very simple, but has all the information in it I need to finish the painting. It shows the placing of all the facial features, but also where the cast shadows will fall and how the back lighting will push the silhouette forward.

02. Use occlusion layer

occlusion in photoshop

Built upon the previous sketch is the occlusion layer. You’ll notice that it’s a very bright layer with light greyish tones in it, and the reason for that is that we don’t want to overdo the shadows in the image. By keeping this layer light the Multiply layer won’t ‘burn’ my friendly-looking orc character below.

03. Build it up

building up occlusion layers

With the occlusion layer in Multiply I paint over the line drawing with larger strokes to erase the big lines while keeping the major volumes. The lines aren’t really needed since the layout of the elements is present in the occlusion layer, too. The heavy lifting is now mostly done and all that remains is adding colour and effects.

Words: Bram Sels

Bram is a freelance illustrator and concept designer. He has worked for companies such as Ubisoft, Axis Animation, 3DTotal and Wideshot Entertainment. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 128.

Like this? Read these!

Free Photoshop brushes every creative must haveHow to create an orc in ZBrushHow to create dynamic lighting in Photoshop

10 essential oil painting tips and techniques

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/dTT1hoJ3H4o/oil-painting-techniques-10-essential-tips

When learning how to paint, virtually every student starts out afraid and overwhelmed by the unforgiving nature of painting in oils. But the transition to oils can be made much smoother by utilising some simple and practical painting techniques. 

In the video below, I demonstrate 10 great tips that will help get you started on the right path. (Spoiler alert: it all begins with the fundamentals!)

Now let's go through these 10 oil painting tips in more detail.

01. Hold the paintbrush in the right place!

Hold your brush at the end for maximum control

There are many different grips on the paintbrush that an artist can use while painting. However, there is one 'go-to' method that every artist should know: to get the most fluidity and sensitivity with your strokes, hold the brush handle as far back as you can. This might feel uncomfortable at first, but it offers the greatest degree of control because it allows you to paint with your whole arm rather than just your wrist. 

 02. Master your brush orientation

Using every angle of your brush adds to your versatility

During the process of painting, it can be very easy to forget that your brush has two sides or orientations! You’re not limited to always making wide strokes using the flat side of your brush, as every brush can be turned on its side for sharper lines or strokes. Learning to control your lines with your brush orientation will help you paint faster and with more versatility.

 03. Vary your pressure

By varying pressure, you’ll vary texture as well

Avoid having 'heavy hands' with your paintbrush. Sometimes the pressure that you apply with a stroke can make the difference between perfection and a mess. The heavier your pressure, the more your paints will blend and create ridges along the sides of your brushstrokes. Get familiar with how your light, medium, and heavy strokes look on the canvas and vary your pressure appropriately to achieve your desired effects. 

04. Harness the power of the painting medium

Painting mediums can modify your paint in amazing ways

Oil painting is not solely about the paint. An absolutely essential part of controlling paint is the artist’s use of a painting medium – typically a mixture of solvent and oil used to modify the paint and make it behave in different ways. Adding lots of medium will make your paint flat and transparent like a wash, whereas adding just a little medium will give your paint a mayonnaise-like consistency.

05. Keep your colours pure

Keep your brushes clean so you don’t contaminate your colour

Be careful when you grab from the paint piles on your palette. Make sure that your brushes are clean or you will taint the colours you want to use. It’s vital to preserve the intensity of the colours straight out of the tube so remember to clean your brushes regularly and often – even between strokes if necessary.

06. Use two-colour mixtures if possible

The fewer paints you mix, the more vibrant the resulting colour will be

Grabbing from every single pile while mixing will create a dull and less intense mixture. Practice mixing what you need using only two colours and white. By increasing your colour knowledge and getting better at mixing, you will paint much more efficiently and quickly and your work will benefit from it.

07. Don't over-mix

Only mix as much as necessary

When mixed colours first bump into one another, there are tiny inconsistencies in the mixture that help add vividness and interest to your paint. So, when you combine colours to create a mixture it’s important to make sure that you only mix them as much as necessary before applying the stroke. If you over-mix two colours, you will turn your interesting mixture into a flat and uninteresting pile of paint.

08. Don't skimp on paint

Use as much paint as necessary to realise your vision

Sometimes you want a thin wash, but other times you need a thick stroke in order to achieve your desired effect, so make sure that you're using enough paint to create the type of stroke you need. Don't hold back on the paint at the expense of your painting. If you find yourself constantly swirling a brush around a thin pool of paint on your palette, then it's probably time to remake that mixture.

09. Try wet-on-wet versus dry brush

Use wet versus dry effects to your advantage

Remember that you can paint directly onto a wet surface or wait for it to dry and put wet paint over that. Paints will blend on the canvas when working wet-in-wet, which is great for getting transitions or gradients. Painting with a dry brush will give you a more textural effect, which is perfect for painting brick or dirt.

10. Don't forget the palette knife

Sometimes, the best brush for the job is not a brush at all

The palette knife is not just a trowel that you use to mix paint! It can also be used quite effectively at times to make interesting strokes. A palette knife is particularly useful for making textural and unpredictable strokes – effects that you'd be hard-pressed to duplicate with a brush.

Related articles:

How to draw and paint – pro tips and tutorials7 must-know painting techniques for artistsThe secrets to painting like Matisse

50+ Nice Clean CSS Tab-Based Navigation Scripts

Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/50-nice-clean-css-tab-based-navigation-scripts/

Comprehensive list of clean and well-designed tab-based navigation scripts built on top of CSS and JavaScript.

The post 50+ Nice Clean CSS Tab-Based Navigation Scripts appeared first on Hongkiat.

Visit hongkiat.com for full content.

Collective #407

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tympanus/~3/U31XLU8EaZI/

C407_HelloSign

Our Sponsor
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With a robust SDK, amazing support, detailed documentation, and super clean dashboard, HelloSign API is sure to make your team happy.

Try it today

C407_scroll

Scroll to the future

Anna Selezniova and Andy Barnov take us on a tour of the latest CSS and JavaScript features that make navigating around a single page smooth, beautiful and less resource-hungry.

Read it

C407_frontendbook

Front-End Developer Handbook 2018

A guide written by Cody Lindley on the practice of front-end development, how to learn it and what tools are used.

Check it out

C407_length

Length.js

A useful JavaScript library for length units conversions.

Check it out

C407_eclipse

Eclipse

An interactive experiment made by Cameron Adams.

Check it out

C407_font2

Free Font: Jelani

A beautiful, creative font inspired by African folklore.

Get it

C407_vuepress

VuePress

A Vue-powered static site generator with a markdown-centered project structure.

Check it out

C407_mustard

Mustard UI

Mustard UI is a nice looking starter CSS framework made by Kyle Logue.

Check it out

C407_bigapps

Designing very large (JavaScript) applications

Malte Ubl’s transcript of his JSConf Australia talk on what he learned building large JavaScript applications.

Read it

C407_fechecklist

Front-End Design Checklist

An exhaustive list of optimal goals for a very complete front-end design project. By David Dias.

Check it out

C407_browser

Remote Browser

A library for controlling web browsers like Chrome and Firefox programmatically using JavaScript. Built on top of the Web Extensions API standard.

Check it out

C407_gridpractices

Best Practices With CSS Grid Layout

Rachel Andrew tries to answer the commonly asked question about CSS Grid best practices.

Read it

C407_gridfacts

Another Collection of Interesting Facts About CSS Grid

Once again Manuel Matuzovic shares his findings about interesting bits of CSS Grid.

Read it

C407_tentacles

Dot Tentacles

Magical dot tentacles with CSS variables made by Ana Tudor.

Check it out

C407_snap

Swipe Views with CSS Snap Points: Building a More Efficient Mobile Web Navigation

An interesting read on the usefulness of CSS Scroll Snap Points.

Read it

C407_d3

Learn D3.js for free

A step-by-step guide with 10 interactive tutorials to teach you D3.js. Read more about it in this article.

Check it out

C407_buttoncursor

Buttons shouldn’t have a hand cursor (part 2)

Adam Silver continues his analysis of the pointer cursor conventions.

Read it

C407_webrebuild

It’s time to rebuild the web

In case you missed it: an article by Mike Loukides on how the web needs to be rebuild to become open again.

Read it

C407_font1

Free Font: Medel

Ozan Karakoc designed this font with a unique touch.

Get it

C407_prefix

Getting rid of “grid-” prefix on CSS Grid Layout gutter properties

In case you missed it: an article about the unprefixing of grid layout gutter properties in Blink and WebKit. By Manuel Rego Casasnovas.

Read it

C407_distortionhover

From Our Blog
WebGL Distortion Hover Effects

A little library that can be used for creating WebGL powered distortion hover effects using displacement images.

Check it out

Collective #407 was written by Pedro Botelho and published on Codrops.

What’s New for Designers, April 2018

Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/04/whats-new-for-designers-april-2018/

Are you one of those designers who loves to test new stuff? Then this month’s collection of what’s new will be a treat! New tools and resources are everywhere this time of year, here are a few that you’re sure to enjoy.

If we’ve missed something that you think should have been on the list, let us know in the comments. And if you know of a new app or resource that should be featured next month, tweet it to @carriecousins to be considered!

FirstSiteGuide

FirstSiteGuide is a collection of resources, guides and tools to help you navigate first-time website ownership. Resources can help you start, run and grow an online presence even if you have never done it before. The neat lookup tool also allows you to learn what’s powering a certain website, just type in the URL and search.

There

There is a productivity app for remote teams. It keeps track of what time it is across time zones for team members so you don’t have to guess or spend time looking it up. Users and times pop up right on the screen.

AI Color Wheel

Here’s an AI application that’s a lot of fun to play with. The AI Color Wheel takes your flat image and colorizes it to generate color palettes. Just upload a design in grayscale, pick a color that appeals to you and get instant palette inspiration. (This is a great tool if you have a hard time selecting color palettes.)

Driver

Driver is a lightweight JavaScript engine to help move the user across the page in a design. It allows you to highlight elements, create feature introductions, and customize in a number of ways to cue up interactions.

Tabler

Tabler is a tool with all the source code you need to create a responsive dashboard template that looks great and can be customized by the project. It comes with plenty of components that are ready-made and the code is open-source so you can create a pull request for a feature. It’s built with Bootstrap and uses CSS3 form components.

Wormco

Wormco is a simple animated status indicator that is pure fun. Find it on CodePen.

UI Faces

UI Faces is an avatar aggregator featuring “live” faces for design mockups. The avatars come ready to use with information to make your mockups feel more real; just copy and paste, use the API or integrate the Sketch plugin.

Trueface

Trueface is an AI-powered identity verification system. Use it for OCR and data extraction, document verification, facial recognition and to validate users.

Storyboarder

Storyboarder helps you turn piles of sketches into an actual animated storyboard. It’s a quick and easy way to visualize and show off your ideas to others using a digital storyboard that can be shared. You can draw in-app or import graphics. You can also add dialogue and action to bring it to life. Storyboarder integrates with Photoshop for easy editing.

Egg Shape Background Gradients

There’s no such thing as too many gradients and Egg Shape Background Gradients is another gradient-picking tool. The gimmick here is that each sample is in an egg shape. Find one you like, copy the colors or CSS) and go.

Sheet2Site

Sheet2Site is a paid tool that allows you to turn a Google Sheet into a website without coding. It is a good option for simple or data-based web needs.

Crunch

Crunch might be a little slow but it makes up for it in functionality. The Mac tool optimizes PNG images. According to the developer: “It combines selective bit depth, color type, and color palette reduction with zopfli DEFLATE compression algorithm encoding using embedded versions of the pngquant and zopflipng PNG optimization tools. This approach leads to a significant file size gain relative to lossless approaches at the expense of a relatively modest decrease in image quality.”

Papaya

Papaya is a collection of landing page templates for a number of projects. What makes this collection unique is while every design is quick, responsive and customizable, you get to say how much you are willing to page for each landing page template.

Cloud Text-to-Speech

Google Cloud’s Text-To-Speech tool is open with a beta version that converts natural sounding speech with 30 voices in multiple languages. According to Google, “It applies DeepMind’s groundbreaking research in WaveNet and Google’s powerful neural networks to deliver the highest fidelity possible. With this easy-to-use API, you can create lifelike interactions with your users, across many applications and devices.”

Pixelify

Pixelify is an ever-updating collection of design assets that you can use. The site is a design-sharing community so you can upload and rate designs. There are assets available for personal and commercial use.

Site Palette

Site Palette is a Chrome browser extension that extracts color palettes from websites. You can create palettes, mix color options and download swatches.

Medical Icons Set

Medical Icons Set is a collection of 60 vector icons in PNG and SVG format. The set includes line and monochrome filled options for designs that need a medical icon set.

200 Vector Icons

Henrik Ostergaard created a set of 200 vector icons for Adobe Illustrator. The pack includes line-style element representations of common items and shapes.

Deck

InVision has a fun card-style UI kit available as a free download. Deck is a cross-platform UI kit for card-based interfaces. The kit is made with vector shapes for easy customization.

Bootstrap Templates & Themes

Need a theme or template for Bootstrap 4? This collection is packed with freebies from dashboards to page templates to carousels.

Tutorial: CSS Techniques and Effects for Knockout Text

Knockout text is a big trend in typography right now. (You can find more about it in the April collection of Essential Design Trends.) This tutorial from CSS-Tricks will help you create a super-trendy and modern layered text effect using CSS properties and even include transitions and animations.

Variable Fonts

A variable font is a single font that “behaves like multiple fonts.” Variable Fonts, in beta, is a resource to help you find variable font options that you can test and use. Each typeface description comes with a preview and information about the design, license and where to find it. Finding a variable font just got a lot easier.

Altero

Altero is an all-caps display typeface that’s free for commercial and personal use. The heavy block style also includes an outline version and the font download includes 505 characters.

Bimbo

Bimbo is a monoline script that has a distinct handwritten style. Use it for display. The set includes six weights and 300 characters.

East Border

East Border is a slab-style stencil typeface with a full uppercase character set, numerals and a few punctuation marks. It is best for display options.

Element 120

Element 120 is a rough display typeface with a full character set. The demo version (free) is somewhat limited.

Spring is Coming

Spring is Coming is a lightweight typeface that includes flower symbols. It has a handwriting style.

Add Realistic Chalk and Sketch Lettering Effects with Sketch’it – only $5!

Source

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