Trends Used In Comedy Movie Posters Trom 1915 to 2010

Movie posters are a fantastic source of inspiration for artists and designers of all kinds. Different genres of film tend to have different techniques and trends – sci-fi posters tend to be dark, gloomy and atmospheric for example, whereas comedy posters (as showcased in this article) are quite minimal (especially posters designed in the more modern day such as the 90’s and 2000’s).

This compilation showcases a total of nintey-nine comedy posters, that’s one poster per year going all the way back to 1915. Throughout the decades and years we can see how movie poster design has developed from full-on painted works of art to incredible rendered posters and digitally textured photographs.

We ask for one thing in return for showcasing this awesome collection of posters: What are your favorite posters showcased in the article, and why? Be sure to let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the post!

The Benefits And Drawbacks Of An Over Active Creative Mind

You’re a creative person. We all are. That’s one of the reasons we are designers. But, how many of us have heard from someone that we have an over active mind and we come up with too many ideas? An over active mind can be both positive and negative. In today’s article we’ll explore both sides.

As a creative community, we want to believe that there are positive aspects of the creative minds we have but rarely do we look at the downside of it (or maybe we’re just too busy thinking of creative ideas that we don’t notice the down side?). So instead of just discussing the benefits of an over active creative mind (which I do below), I want to also discuss the drawbacks of the over thinking that we tend to do.

At the end of the article, feel free to weigh in with your opinions in the comments – I’d love to hear what others think.

How To Design An Abstract Wallpaper In Photoshop (and Illustrator)

Combining Illustrator and Photoshop can produce some dramatic and intense effects. Illustrator has the powers (and tools) to easily create abstract shapes, whereas in Photoshop, although possible, this can take up a lot more of your time.

In this tutorial we will be creating abstract shapes using the Pen Tool and Shape Tools in Illustrator and then using those shapes to produce an abstract wallpaper in Photoshop using various color blending techniques, textures and transformation tools. Let’s get going!

6 Reasons Crowdsourcing And Spec Work Sucks

It’s a revolution, or at least it seems to be if you listen to just about every hype-filled business blog out there. While crowdsourcing has resulted in some cool promotions and occasionally even a worthwhile end result for both parties involved, it’s rarely the best solution for any business (or any service provider, for that matter).

Hailed as a masterful way to get things done cheaply and easily for businesses, crowdsourcing is effectively digital outsourcing on steroids – a sure-fire method for getting work done on the cheap, while still maintaining control over the end product and project quality. Projects are issued, typically on one of several online marketplaces, and rather than competing for the project with applications and pitches, designers compete for the project with the finished project.

If you can’t already see how this equation doesn’t quite work as a long-term business strategy, these six reasons will no doubt make it a little clearer. Crowdsourcing, while worthwhile for some, just isn’t good for most online business, whether they’re on the project posting side or the service side. If you’re a new designer looking to gain some experience, check out these six reasons crowdsourcing sucks before you spend your time on a crowdsourced design competition.

How To Create Your Own Fiery Ring Poster in Photoshop

Have you ever wished that you were some kind of a superhero, with the ability to bend the element of fire to your very will? I bet you’re thinking about it now!

Well, in this article I’m going to show you how to use Photoshop to transform yourself into a digital superhero! We’re going to take a simple image of a small and muted campfire and transform it into a bold and powerful ring of flames! Then we’ll integrate that ring into a cool looking poster.

Free UI Set From MediaLoot And A Preview Of What’s To Come

If you’ve been reading Spyre Studios lately I’m sure you’ve read about MediaLoot, a brand new site I’m working on with Mason Hipp.

MediaLoot will be a membership site offering premium resources for designers. With your membership you’ll have access to things like icon sets, brushes, vectors, textures, web elements, templates and lots of other cool stuff.

We’re pretty busy with wireframing and building the website right now, and collaborating with some awesome designers to create resources for the site, but we thought it would be nice to give you guys a little something :)