4 Places to Learn How to Screenprint in Philadelphia

My 1st screenprinted design getting oiled before the emulsion process

In the last couple of years, I've gotten more and more interested in taking art & professional development classes related to my field. Being a freelancer who primarily works from home, I don't get to learn from others on a daily basis (and the more I know the more I realize there is so, so much to learn), so I am constantly on the look out for interesting online & in-person classes.

I decided a few months ago that THIS would be the summer I learned screen printing; it's been in the back on my mind since I worked as a poster designer (10 years ago, crazy!). Screenprinting classes aren't offered as often as drawing/painting classes since they require a different kind of studio, but I did some research on classes in Philadelphia and here is a list of the best ones I found (links are included in all names).


1) Fleisher Art Memorial:  (Where I ended up taking my class) - this was my first experience at Fleisher, and it was a great one. I took a 5 day summer immersion workshop during the day while my kids took their own classes upstairs. I ended the week with (20) 11 x 4 inch prints of my own design (most of which were usable!). They also offer night classes and have two 10 week classes for beginners on their fall schedule (running from mid September to mid November). Huge Pro of Fleisher: If you are coming from out of town like me, they have a free parking lot for students - a rare thing in the city.
Cost: for a 10 week class is also a very reasonable $260 :) You may be able to use the left over paint they keep from past students (I did), but you will have to buy your own paper - which can be bought at the small supply store in their lobby - I spent $20 on 5 large sheets, which I divided into (20) 11x14 inch prints.

2) Continuing Education Class at an Art College:  There are a few art colleges in Philadelphia that also offer screenprinting classes as a part on their non-credit, continuing education programs. There are screenprinting classes at UArts and PAFA currently on their fall schedules, and Tyler with likely have one as well, judging from past schedules (fall 2015 class info has not been posted to their website yet). I actually tried to take a 10 week screenprinting class at UArts this summer, but it was cancelled due to low enrollment, bummer! I'm really only familiar with parking at UArts (having taking past classes there) and while there is no free lot for students, as a continuing education student you can get a discount on parking in one of the nearby lots, or easily take public transit (my personal choice). PAFA and Tyler are also both in convenient locations easily accessible by public transit.
Cost: Around $400-500 per 10 week class, includes a supply fee, but you may need to buy paper, paint, etc.

3) Second State Press: If you can't commit to a 10 week class, you may prefer to take a short workshop at Second State Press, located in the Crane Arts building. The workshop is one day, 3 hours long and you'll leave with a series of prints of your own design. I haven't taken a class with them yet, but I'll be going to a printmaking workshop with my family this week, so I am curious to see how it goes. My personal preference would be to spend a little more time in a class, but if you can get all you need to get done in only 3 hours, then why not? Every time I've visited the Crane Arts building there's been tons of free, on-street parking, though it's a bit trickier to get to via public transit compared to places in Center City
Cost: $83 for a 3 hour class. While it may seem a tad pricey for how short it is, it does includes all necessary supplies, like paper & paint. When factor those prices in, it works out to be around what you'd pay per 3 hour class at a college.

4) You House: While I like taking a class with an experienced instructor & other students I did ask my teacher if it would be possible to do screenprinting on my own. She said she prefers to work at a studio, but sent me a link to DIY Print Shop, which sells a range of different kits for beginners, all including an instructional DVD. I'm intrigued, but not sure if I'm ready to buy one yet! If I did, I would probably go for the Poster screenprinting kit ($249).
Cost: depending on the the kit, $129 - 599 (plus shipping), about what you'd pay for a class.

Here is a photo of one of my finished, 2 color prints from my class. I'm very happy with my 1st try at screenprinting, and very thankful for a wonderful teacher, Miriam Singer. (if you'd like to experience her class for yourself, she's teaching at Fleisher Thursday nights this fall :)

Do you have a local or online screenprinting class to add to the list? Let me know in the comments!

5 Tips to Protect Your Wordpress Site From Hackers

I started developing Wordpress sites in early 2011 and it has pretty much been a 3+ year honeymoon....until last month, when I noticed one of the sites I manage had been hacked. On first glance, it didn't appear too bad, I was still able to log in, viewers of the site still saw the same content, and from the outside, things looked ok...from the inside, there were odd little quirks (like not being able to insert hyperlinks or see the names of all the files in the media gallery). Originally I thought it might be the result of a recent update to the newest version of Wordpress, as there is always the possibility that older themes and plugins might not work the way they should after updating. But then I did a search for the site through Google, and realized that the site's description had been changed to garbled sentences about pay day loans. Not. Good.

Wordpress Site Hack - Google site description changed to "Dirty SEO"  using a bunch of spammy keywords. Ugh.

After going into full blown panic mode for a minute, I calmed down, started doing some research. I was able to fix the problem, & added a bunch of safety measure to try to make sure it doesn't happen again. Don't make the same mistakes I once did, and you'll avoid a lot of headache!

Here's 5 Easy Wordpress Security Steps that will go a long way in Protecting Your Site From Getting Hacked

(Please note: I use wordpress.org, the self-hosted, non-free version of wordpress, if you are using wordpress.com, some of the these tips won't apply to you, as you won't be able to install plugins)

1) DELETE the Admin Login ASAP

If you are using the default Wordpress login "Admin", or even if you don't use it, but still have it available in your users list, delete it NOW. Since so many Wordpress sites use this user name (and by default, it has full access privileges), it it the first choice for bots to try to login to your site. From within the Wordpress dashboard, you can see your users list by going to Users >All Users, and add/delete accounts as needed.

2) CHANGE Your Password to Something More Secure- 

With all the online passwords we need to remember today, it may be tempting to use your birthday, your kid's name or some other easy to remember phrase, but it will make it much easier for a hackers/bots to gain access as well. The most secure passwords are 12 characters or longer and contain a random combination of letters, numbers and symbols. There are many free random password generators (like random.org), or you can make up your own random password by using the first letter of each word in a sentence.

Example:  "Lauren likes 2 look @ 5 books Every day but Friday & Sunday" = Ll2l@5bEdbF&S

This will make your password harder to crack, but easier for you to remember. If you've already been hacked and have changed your password, you'll want to change your password again AFTER you've cleaned up any damage.

3) LIMIT Login Attempts

If someone/something is trying to login to your site incorrectly 20 times in 30 seconds, you can pretty much assume it's a brute force attack. By using a plugin to limit login attempts, you can shut down the ability to login after 5 incorrect passwords (or a number of your choice) for 20 minutes (or whatever amount of time you'd prefer). A simple, free plugin that does this is Limit Login Attempts, or can also use a plugin that does this along with other security features (more about this in tip #5).

4) BACK UP Your Site Regularly

This is something you should already be doing, but is particular useful if you get hacked, so you can easily restore your site to a non-infected version. A good rule of thumb is to keep at least 3 backups, preferably in different locations - like one on your computer's harddrive & one in online storage. There are many free and paid plugins that will do automatic backups for you. I've used BackUp Wordpress and Wordpress Backup to Dropbox, but there are more. I like to do weekly or monthly back ups and keep about 3 months of past backups.

5) USE a Multi-feature Wordpress Security Plugin

As I've mentioned above, there are free & paid versions of security plugins that will do everything I've listed above, plus tons more to secure your site. If your site has already been hacked, or if you have a high traffic site (or many sites), it may be worth upgrading to a paid version.  Even using the free versions is a great help, as they offer site scanning, malware removal and security recommendations. In my search, I've found & used both iThemes Security and Sucuri and would recommend either. Just a word of caution, both plugins have so many features to them, they may be overwhelming to a beginner. I would consider myself an above average Wordpress user, and even I was confused by some of it. If you start to feel overwhelmed, just focus on the "High Priority" items and you should be fine! 

Do you use wordpress? What security tips/plugins do you use?

How to find FREE Photos for Personal or Commercial Use

Everyone knows how easy it is to do a search for a specific photo on google and instantly use any of images that come up for whatever purpose we see fit - but how would you feel if some stranger took the photos you shared of your kids, or your kitchen, or your dog Penelope and used them to promote their business? You'd probably be pretty angry - so why would you do it to someone else? Maybe you just don't want to spend any money - and that's totally fine! There are a TON of great resources on the web for photos that are free to use without any bad karma :)) The list below are are all sites that I've used myself while working on a bare-bones or non-existent budget.

Just a heads up: The first 3 sites require you to sign up for an account to download, which is no big deal - I always just sign up with my "junk" email address. It's also important to read the terms of use on each site/image to be safe before using any image in a commercial project! While 90% of commercial use will be fine, there is always a few scenarios (like re-selling the same image as digital download) that are not permitted.

This week's Free image on iStock 

1) iStock: iStock is the industry-standard site for stock photography, and I've purchased from them extensively, but did you know they also give away a Free Photo of the Week? Just click on PHOTOS in the top menu bar, then click on the FREE PHOTO OF THE WEEK image in the right sidebar. There is also a super cheap $1 bin of photos & vector art as well, and if you sign up for a new iStock account using my referral link, you'll get 10 Free credits ($20 value, $2 = 1 credit) and I'll earn a few credits as well for referring you (win-win!).
PROS: Super easy to search through, always high quality photography, available in large sizes great for print or web, 4 different free images per month. You won't have to credit the photographer when use the photo. And you can't beat the 10 free credit deal.
CONS: Free photos of the week are usually very specific images, might not be generic enough for your needs, you'll most likely need to check the site weekly and build up image overtime

"Walking" photo from Freerange Stock

2) Freerange Stock: Free Range Stock is made up a community of photographers that make their photos available to you for free, in exchange for revenue from ads featured all over the site. There is a decent sized collection of typical stock photos with many different subject matters, worth a look!
PROS: Great search feature & lots of different photo content. You won't have to credit the photographer.
CONS: Varying levels of talent in contributing photographers, lots of ads on the site

Ornate Tiles photo from CG Textures

3) CG Textures: CG Textures was started as a free database of textures for 3d modeling artists, but there is lots of useful content for graphic designers or other professionals . While you won't find any photos of people, there are tons of excellent images of flowers, animals, landscapes, buildings paint splatters and more. CG Textures just asks that you download respectfully, on an as-needed basis (no photo hoarding!). They do limit the amount of downloads you can make in one day. However the limit is very generous and I've never exceeded it.
PROS: High quality photos, & great selection of subject matter. Especially good site for illustrators & designers who want to digitally add textures to their work. No photo credit needed.
CONS: Photos are mainly geared to be used as a addition to another design, not as a stand-alone piece.

Totally free photo from Wikimedia 

4) Wikimedia Commons: Believe it or not, there is a community of artists that want you to use their work for free without any compensation in return - and it's huge, with over 20.5 million freely usable files and growing.  You're allowed to download, use, copy or modify anything on the site, as long as you respect the terms supplied by the artist (which may mean crediting them).
PROS: HUGE and I do mean HUGE database of images, with particularly good health, & science & historical images.
CONS: So big, it can be hard to navigate. Since anyone can contribute, there are varying levels of quality in the photos. If you are looking for very commercial looking stock images, this is not the best site. You also may need to credit the photographer, which may not be ideal for all commercial use.

Photo Credit: Hussain Didi on Flickr

5) Flickr Creative Commons: Flickr is another great resource for free-use photos. Since it's a gallery site geared towards people who are interested in photography (whether they are professionals or hobbyists) the quality of images is a bit higher & more consistent than Wikimedia.  There is a section especially for sharing public photo archives like what you might find in museums (mainly photos dated from the late 1800s-1950s) called The Commons. If you ever need a 1880's era shot of a baby posing on a chair, here's your goldmine.
PROS: Great selection of historical images in The Commons, and you won't need to credit the photographer. Some really great modern & artsy stuff can be found in the Creative Commons section. Very easy to share, download, or embed images in multiple sizes.
CONS: You will need to credit the photographer for anything used from Creative Commons & the multiple copyright scenarios can be confusing. 

Official US President Photo!

6) USA.gov: Yes, the government! Numerous government agencies have entire databases of images for you to use, and they are nicely organized on this site. You need a state map? Got it. Photo of the President? Just check out the US Government's photostream on Flickr. Picture of someone getting infected with the flu? Tons of those! Belt out a quick Pledge of Alligence, then go crazy at the USA.gov site above.  
PROS: So. much. stuff. All taken by professional photographers. And if you're a journalist or blogger, these photos are pure gold, with almost no restrictions. 
CONS: You can't use the president's image in a way that implies he personally endorses whatever you might be selling. darn.

7) Google Image Search: Yeah, I know I told you in the first paragraph NOT to use google image search, but I lied, you can. But only in a specific way- by adding a filter to your search. Search for the image subject, then click on> Search Tools, and choose> Labeled for reuse. Google will do a search of free images on wikimedia, Flickr, deviantart, clip art sites and more. Always click on the image and go to> Visit Site to get the exact copyright specs.

PROS: The world's your oyster.
CONS: You'll need to have a specific subject in mind before you search, no random browsing. Much harder to find images where no credit is required, since they get mixed together with ones with attribution (credit required) licenses.

Photo Credit: Brian Ochalla on Flickr

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find some chocolate.

TOY FAIR NY14 - My Experience as a 1st Time Attendee

Preparing to enter  TOY FAIR!!

I first heard about Toy Fair in 2011, when I worked as a designer for a toy company that neither exhibited nor attended it. I made a few half-ditch efforts to get a pass through various toy companies in both 2012 and 2013 with no success. So when a opportunity to attend this year fell into my lap, I figured I better take it, though my initial excitement to attend had waned a bit. I actually no longer work in the toy industry, though toys are still very interesting to me both professionally and personally (I have 3 kids, toys are literally scattered all over my keyboard as I type this).

If you're going for the first time, here are my tips so you can avoid making the same mistakes I made:

1) CHECK YOUR COAT or whatever else you've carrying: Don't be cheap like me and haul it around along with everything you brought to pass time on the train. It's not worth it! Your arms will quickly get tired, and you won't be able to pick up any promotional materials. Which brings me to #2....

Promotional materials from my 2 favorite booths

2) BRING A BAG TO TAKE ITEMS HOME WITH YOU - There is a ton, every booth has promotional materials, and at the entrance there was a bunch of free industry magazines which I had to pass up, because I thought my arms might actually fall off. I saw many people with small rolling suitcases, which is an even better idea.

3) THERE ARE NO INDIVIDUAL TOYS FOR SALE - Don't be fooled by the super cheap prices on everything, those are wholesale prices when you buy a significant quantity for your store. Yes, I made this total rookie mistake ;). I did see a bunch of attendees carrying toy samples, so while there were some free toys out there (perhaps with some schmoozing :), they were the exception. I did get offered a balloon animal, cupcakes and chocolate strawberries and there was abundant candy samples at most booths.

Going into this booth while hungry was a HUGE mistake

4) EAT SOMETHING, AND KEEP UP YOUR STRENGTH - This is the New York Marathon of toys, don't rely on candy samples to get you through the 1,000+ toy vendors, you'll burn out quickly. There's quite a few food options inside the Javits Center and on the toy floors, including a Starbucks, or you can exit the building, though there's no food in the immediate vicinity. Think of it as leaving the mall instead of getting something from the food court, slightly inconvenient.

5) MAKE A PLAN - There's too much to see and it quickly becomes toy overkill - Rather than just wander around, make a list of the top 10-20 booths you must see, then go exploring at the end. There's 2 HUGE floors, the main floor has most of the big toy companies and large, elaborate booths, and the lower floor has mostly smaller companies. I made the mistake of spending all my time and energy on the main floor, then getting tired and not as excited for the lower level - which I actually found much more interesting. There are also targeted "product zones" (action figures, crafts, preschool, etc, etc, etc.) and a "launch pad" area of small, start-up companies (many with amazing things), which I didn't get to until the very end, when I just wanted to go home.

View from the Mattel lounge where I took a much needed break.

Other quick points: dress professional but wear comfortable shoes, Don't take photos of any booths without asking permission first (the lighting inside was terrible, so all your iPhone photos are going to look like crap anyway), & take advantage of the FREE shuttle to/from numerous hotels and Penn Station (especially at the end of the day when you are tired).

Birthday Thank You Card

 

Just wanted to share a quick thank you card I made for my daughter's birthday last month.  I chose a photo of her to be the main focus of the card, but I wanted to add a bit of decoration to make it a little more fun :) 

I was lucky to have a great photo to start with, though I did change the wall in background from tan to grey so it would be more neutral and not clash with the rest of the bright colors in the card. I found a few whimsical fonts, but it still was looking a little plain, so I used my Wacom tablet to draw some doodles around the words - use could also draw with your mouse or download some free sketchy doodles like these. I was very happy with the end result and how quickly I was able to pull it together - I was able to complete the whole project in a little more than an hour....now actually addressing and filling the cards out is a different story - those things sat on my desk for more than a week ;)

Fonts used: Quentin Caps

Black Oak Std

Cursive Standard

Using Dingbats as a Source of Free Illustrations

Made Using "Butterflies" font by Typeadelic

 Because I often work with new businesses who don't have a huge start up budget, I am always on the lookout for low-cost or free commercial use graphics. One source that many people (including myself!) often overlook is Dingbats. Dingbats are fonts that have pictures instead of letters. See the butterfly art above? It's something I created very quickly using the free font, Butterflies.

Because fonts work similarly to vector art, you can scale the art to any size and they will still look crisp and sharp. They work best as one-color line art, but if you want to add more color to them, you can "Rasterize Type" in Photoshop or "Convert to Outlines" in Illustrator and use the paint bucket or direct selection tools to color them in.

Volkswagen Font from dafont.com, fun!

Your computer probably already has a standard "dingbat" font, but there are tons more - The most common ones are ornaments - flourishes, swirls& flowers, but you can also get animals, silleuettes, signs, US States, paint splatters and cars, just to name a few.  As with anything you download from the internet, if you are going to be using it commercially (whether it be for your business or as graphics on your blog or website), make sure it is free or freeware, and not just free for personal use. If it's not, don't fret, you may be able to pay a small license fee to use it commercially, just check the font's readme file.

"Floralia" font from FontSquirrel.com

Ready to start browsing for some free art? Check out the Dingbat Selection at Font Squirrel or the even bigger Dingbat Collections at daFont!

Making Your Own Business Cards on a Budget

My business cards, printed via moo.com

Recently, a facebook friend who is starting her own business asked me if I could recommend a free online program that would allow her to design a business card for her to print at home. The first thing I said was, "Don't print your business card at home". Why? Because it will look like you printed your business card at home, and you want to look as professional as possible.

Now, I am in no way trying to talk someone with an interest/talent in crafts or design OUT of silk screening, letterpressing or creating a card on a nontraditional/unique medium themselves, especially if that look goes well with the "feel" of your business. BUT - for the majority of small business owners, your printer and paper will not be able match the quality of a commercial printer. About 5 years ago, I made this mistake myself. I designed my business card, bought a pack of perforated business card paper at an office supply store and thought I would save some money by printing at home. Every time I exchanged business cards, I was keenly aware that the other person's card was much nicer quality than mine, which was NOT the way to impress them with my graphic design business.

If you left your business card on a table filled with other business cards, how would it hold up? Would the feel/look of the paper and the overall design say "This person is taking their business seriously" or "This person is trying to cut corners"? 

So how can you design a high quality card that looks great AND doesn't cost a ton of money? Browse the "Premade" section of any online business card printing company and you can reap the benefits of a professionally designed card for FREE, only paying for the card printing costs. This option works even better if you can personalize the design with your logo and business colors. The LAST thing you want is a design that looks great, but doesn't match your website or other promotional materials - again, you want to look like a professional.

A word of caution about using a premade design - whatever design you choose, someone else out there is using it too, and you may cross paths in real life. While checking out the premade health/wellness section of a major card printing company, I recognized 2 of the designs from the business card table at my yoga studio. Again, think about if you left your card on a table with other business cards, would you want your company to be accidentally mistaken for another one, or do you want to be as unique as possible?

And if you want to go the custom-designed business card route, know that I am always here for you :)
OR I highly recommend checking out the wonderful, affordable, LOCAL Philly area design services from my friends at $5 Fridays.

And Finally- 

AWESOME BUSINESS CARD DEAL: if you need to print your own business cards for the first time or restock, here is a sweet deal from Vista Print - Get 250 Premium Business Cards with FREE SHIPPING for just $10 - (wow -the pack of crappy perforated business card paper I bought cost more than that!) Just use coupon code: ACE at checkout.

TUTORIAL: Make Your Own Invites with Photoshop Elements

 By popular request, this is a tutorial on how to make your own flat invitations using Photoshop Elements (but it's also pretty much the same in regular Photoshop as well). 

Photoshop Elements Giveaway: One person who leaves a comment on this post, will win their own copy of Photoshop Elements 9 for MAC or PC!  Elements is a great program for anyone who wants to edit photos or do simple graphic design without getting overwhelmed by the feature overload of regular Photoshop. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for contest details.

You can download a free 30 day trial of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements on the Adobe website here.

STEP 1 - DOWNLOAD ILLUSTRATIONS & FONT FILES:

As a demo, we're going to create the invitation shown above and you'll need to download a few free graphics and fonts before we begin. Don't worry, they are all free, from sites that I use on a regular basis and can be used for personal or commercial use. Make sure to DOWNLOAD & INSTALL the fonts before moving on to the next step.

Download Maiden Orange Font from Font Squirrel

Download Jenna Sue Font from Font Squirrel

Download Raindrop Pattern from Vecteezy

Download Cupcake Illustration from Vecteezy

(OPTIONAL) Read my tips on finding, using & installing free fonts and illustrations

STEP 2 - SET UP THE FILE:

(click on screenshot to enlarge)

Open Photoshop Elements Editor and in the top menu, go to FILE -> NEW -> BLANK FILE, then name your document and set the Width to 5 inches, the Height to 7 inches, and the resolution to 300 pixels/inch. You will also want to go to FILE -> SAVE and save your card now and a few times during the design process (I use the MAC keyboard shortcut: Command + S, or PC shortcut: Control + S to save my files quickly while working).

STEP 3 - ADD DESIGN ELEMENTS:

 (click on screenshot to enlarge)

Now we're going to add the background pattern. In the top menu, go to FILE -> OPEN and go to the location of the Simple Blue Raindrop Pattern.

(click on screenshot to enlarge) 

You can see that it opens in a different window, but we need to get it on our card. In the top menu, go to SELECT -> ALL. If you want to be faster, you can also use the keyboard shortcut: command +A (on PC) or control + A (on PC). 

Now go to EDIT -> Copy (Or use the snazzy keyboard shortcut: command + C (on MAC) or control + C (on PC)

Go back to your card file and "paste" the pattern, either by going to EDIT -> PASTE in the top menu, or using keyboard shortcut: command + V (on MAC) or control + V (on PC).

Now we want the pattern to fill the entire background which can be done 2 ways: Either continue to PASTE the pattern 5 more times and manually move them together, OR use the duplicate keyboard shortcut (MAC: hold down OPTION & Mouse Click, then hold SHIFT and drag the pattern to the right, PC: ALT + Mouse Click, then hold SHIFT and drag the pattern to the right). When you hold down the shift key and move an object, your object will only move in a straight line (very helpful!)

You want your pattern to be nice and even with no seams - zoom in to make sure 

OPTIONAL: To keep things tidy, I also like to flatten all the pattern layers together by using the keyboard shortcut MAC: COMMAND + SHIFT + E  or PC: ALT + SHIFT + E

Now we are going to add a white box for the text. Go to the left side menu and choose a color (circled), make sure you've selected white.

Now click on the CUSTOM SHAPE TOOL (circled) and choose a rectangle

Click and drag on top of your raindrop pattern to make your box. You can adjust the size by using the scaling boxes on all four corners and move your box to center it. 

OPTIONAL: I faded the white box a little bit so you can see a light pattern showing through. If you like this effect, go over to the layer palette on the bottom right hand side, make sure you're on the shape1 layer and change the opacity (circled) to 75%.

I want to add the cupcake illustration now, so in the top menu, go FILE -> OPEN and locate the cupcake you downloaded. 

It's going to open up in another window again, so you'll have to repeat the sample steps you did with the raindrop pattern to paste it on your card file (In the top menu, go to SELECT -> ALL;  EDIT -> COPY; then click back over to your card file and go to EDIT -> PASTE).

 It's pasted but we need to scale it down to fit in the right corner. 

You'll see the transform tool right below the top menu. Make sure the "Constrain Proportions" box (circled) is checked then scale the cupcakes using the scale boxes in the any of the four corner of the bounding box.

Move the cupcakes to the bottom right.

 

STEP 3 - ADDING TEXT:

On the left hand menu, click on the Type Tool. 

Just below the top menu, you'll see the type options box appear. Choose "Jenna Sue" as your font (circled) and fuchsia as your color (circled)

Click where you want to start typing.  If your type is faded or invisible, then it's under other layers. Make sure the type layer is on top in the layers palette (circled). Drag it to the top of the layers palette if necessary.

Fill in the rest of the type, using the font Maiden Orange and changing the colors as needed. I made each line of type in it's own text box, so I can control the line spacing, rather than having it as one single paragraph. There's much better type spacing tools in Photoshop, so you wouldn't need to have each line of type in it's own box. 

Make sure you save your file. The default file is a .psd, which will open in either Photoshop or Photoshop Elements for editing. You may also want to save a high quality JPEG version (this is printable on any one's computer, whether or not they have Photoshop) and a Web version (for emailing and other online use) Both these options are found in the top menu, under FILE

DONE!

Photoshop Elements Giveaway: Just leave a comment on this post letting me know what you would use Photoshop Elements for. The giveaway ends on Friday July 27, at 11:59 EST, and I will pick a winner using the number generator at random.org Please make sure your comment includes an email address or some way to contact you! GOOD LUCK!

UPDATE: The winner of Photoshop Elements is comment #4, mamaco! Can you please email me at laurendraws(at)gmail(dot)(com), and let me know where you want me to send your prize?

Tips for New Graphic Designers & Illustrators

This September, I will start my tenth year of designing professionally (I started working while in college, designing and illustrating handbills & posters for Electric Factory Concerts via the promotion company GoodieGoodie)

<------------My first paying illustration/design job ( I still love the mule!)

  

I also recently celebrated 7 years of designing consumer products, for a variety of national retailers like Walmart, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond and Michaels.  

So, while I am still learning something new almost everyday,  I'd also like to think I've learned enough to share some tips to anyone just starting out, or thinking of starting out in freelance design. Here are 4 quick, but important tips for new Graphic Designers and Illustrators....

 1)  NEVER WORK FOR FREE: You probably went to an expensive school to learn how to design and if you are anything like myself, you are tens of thousands of dollars in debt (or more). You have great color & design sense, so stop devaluing yourself and start earning something, NOW. And no, "free exposure", and "a word of mouth recommendation", doesn't count as compensation. Why? Because if you do a good job, those things come automatically. If you do a good job, and you do it for free, you will get a reputation as the person who will work for free, and people will come to you looking for free or cheap work. Stop the cycle! And for those of you still in school, I'd caution against unpaid internships for the same reason (Jessica Hische wrote a fabulous piece about this on her blog, you can check it out HERE).   

~A small side note, while I am against working for FREE, I am not against working for TRADE, I have have several successful and satisfying trades, one time in particular that stands out is a job I did for a yoga studio (where I was already spending my money) which resulted in me getting 8 months of classes. Just make sure you you are trading for something you will use and that the trade is for an equal value of your design work. Also, limit yourself to a small number of these per year, because the world runs on $, and your landlord, electric company, and credit card provider is not going to accept a barter.

2) TIME YOURSELF: If you know how long it takes you to work on something, then you will be able to price jobs more accurately and ensure you are getting fairly compensated. Be sure to keep records of the time you spent even AFTER the job has ended and the client has been billed, so you can refer to it later, when you get a similar job. I just designed my first annual report for a client. While I've never done an annual report before, I had designed a similar size program book for a conference last year, so I was able to refer back to this and get a good gauge of how long it would take me. For years, I would write my time down on a scrap of paper that would go into the trash whenever I cleaned off my desk. But recently I discovered a free & easy to use online timer, Slimtimer, that makes keeping track of my jobs much easier. I put all of my jobs into Slimtimer and run reports at the end of the week. If you are not a fan of Slimtimer, there are other timer programs out there, get one and use it!

3) DON'T PUT LARGE-SIZED WORK ON THE INTERNET: We've all used google image search to find pictures for inspiration, ideas, and research, etc. But there is also a large population of people who assume that anything on the internet is free for them to use however they please. One only has to do a search on etsy for "toy story invitation" to see an example of how many people are attempting to make $ from images they found on the internet but have no rights to use. The larger the image you put on the internet, the easier it will be for someone to take it and re-use it without crediting you. While putting a watermark is a good start (especially in this age of pintrest), just as important is making sure everything you post is at or below the standard web size of  480px by 640px at 72dpi. To me, even that size is too big - on this blog I try to post images much smaller, around 350px. This is more a concern for illustrators than designers, but still something to watch out for.  

4) LEARN AS MANY PROGRAMS AS YOU CAN: When you first set out on your graphic design/illustration career, you meet new people, who when finding out your background, will immediately ask, "Can you make ...........for me?" -and you want to be able to say "YES!" Once you've been at the design game for awhile and have specialized your talents and stabilized your income, you can safely turn down jobs that are boring, low-paying, or out of your comfort level. But for now, you need the experience, the word of mouth referrals, and yes, the money. I'll going to share a story one teacher told me (and which I heard a few different versions of from other teachers). This teacher was an illustrator and a high profile client loved his work, and asked if he could make a flash movie for them. He said yes, never having opened flash before. He gave himself a couple weeks before the project started to learn the program using the tutorials and looked up tips anytime he got stuck. The movie came out great, the client was thrilled, he expanded his skills and he got a flash movie for his portfolio to attract more clients. So don't be daunted by something you'd never tried before, if you learned Photoshop,with a little effort you can learn whatever else comes your way, too.
  

Make your Own Invites: What you need to know BEFORE you Start

 Up until this point, this blog has been mostly me posting my work, with not too much talking. But I realize that this has a limited reach as far as helping people. So I have decided to start a (hopefully weekly) feature on my blog; DESiGN for the Common Man, in which I share simple design tips and tutorials, because I know so many crafty people that want to design something themselves, but don't quite know where to start.

So what's the #1 design request I get from my friends? (Jenner this is for you!)

Can you design a really cool invitation for my party/wedding?

Yes, I could, but so can you! But first, I want to ask you, are you designing this yourself only to save money? Because depending on how many cards you need and how much printer ink/paper/envelopes you are going to use, it might not be as cheap as you thought. There are so many online photo and card companies with reasonably priced cards (my personal favorite is tinyprints - they sell specialty cards designed by industry-leading designers & illustrators). Another budget-friendly option is searching etsy for "printable invitation".  Most 5x7 cards sell for around $10- $15 and will be designed to fit your needs, then you can get some nice paper & envelopes and print yourself, or use a print-on-demand service like Staples or Kinkos. 

But if you still really really really want to design it yourself, here's how:

TUTORIAL: HOW TO make a 5x7 flat Invitation - Some helpful tips to know before you start

1) GET A DESIGN PROGRAM:  

I use Photoshop CS5, which is pricey to buy, but you can download a free 30 day trial on their website here. You might also want to check out the much cheaper Photoshop Elements (which may have come free with your printer purchase, or download a 30 day trial here), Microsoft Publisher, or a free design program like Gimp.

1) GET SOME ART:

  

JUST A NOTE: You are mostly likely making this for personal use, but I'm going to mention this anyway - some, but not all of the art on the sites I list below are for personal use only, if you are going to be making money from your design, you will may need to buy a commercial license, read the fine print to be sure.

There is a ton of FREE and almost free vector patterns and illustrations available on the internet. Some great sites to search are Vecteezy.com, lovevectorfree.com, and 123freevectors.com. You may be able to find something you like there.  This is a card I made for a coworker using a free background pattern from Vecteezy.

If you don't mind spending a few dollars, you can search through the very affordable and expansive selection of stock illustrations & patterns on a site like istock or shutterstock. Below is an example of a card I made using an illustration of a woman I purchased off istock for $2! 

Almost all of the illustrations, patterns, and photos can be purchased off istock for less than $20, and can be used commercially (check licensing agreements for exact specs). 

Another budget option, Etsy! Search for "digital clip art" or "digital paper pack"to get lots of cute art options. Most can be bought for around $5. One downside of buying from etsy is you may have to wait up to 24-48 hours to receive your purchase (based on the seller), while getting art from Vecteezy or istock is an instant download. Also, as my company recently found out, there is no guarantee that the seller actually owns any copyrights to the image, they could be selling a close copy of art owned by someone else - so I would strongly suggest buying your art elsewhere if you are going to be using it commercially.

3) GET SOME FONTS:

I love love love fonts, and here's my secret: I get *most* for free through Font Squirrel. These are all high-quality, free, commercial use fonts, but the selection is much more sophisticated and smaller than my second favorite site, Dafont. Not all of Dafonts fonts are free for commercial use, so look at the readme.txt before using them for this purpose. Download a few that you like, some may work better than others for your design, but you won't know until you try. 

And if you have high taste and some money to spend, look no further than myFonts, the go-to site of many graphic designers.

Here is an invitation I made using the font Dirty Ego, a free personal and commercial use font from dafont.

 
Don't know how to install the fonts once you've downloaded them? Check out instructions here:

Install New Fonts Using Windows 7/Vista/XP

Install fonts using Mac OS X

Okay, I think that is enough information overload for now!

Are you ready to start designing your card? Check out Part 2 of the Tutorial Here!