Saturday, August 22, 2015

How to beat creative block in visual arts



I have studied this when I was learning graphic design, so I will post here a few methods to destroy the creative block. Some are tested by me, some are just theory. (These are for visual artists, but probably you can translate them somehow for other artists)

1. Taking a walk, jogging, any kind of sport. In theory it will increase the blood flow and other stuff that I don't understand but it works for me.

2. Looking at photos, paintings, designs, magazines. This in theory works, although not so much for me.

3. Forcing yourself not to think about your creative issue. The brain will continue to think about the problem in background... Sometimes this is a good idea, but not when you have a tight deadline.

4. Thinking about the target of the art you are about to create.
In general any artwork has a main purpose. Are you trying to explore an emotion? To preserve a memory? To present the beauty of nature? Or the beauty of a human act? Are you trying to create a powerful social statement?

All these type of questions will lead to answers. Answers that will help to create your art.

The next step is to find the actors. In visual arts the actors are lighting, composition, models, location, colors etc.

In graphis design there are lots of rules like balance, contrast etc. There are no rules in fact in graphic design. The "rules" are in fact sources of inspiration.

Hope this helps!

Check out my services http://pph.me/PaulCristian

Follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/pallkris

Contact at email: pallkrisdesign@gmail.com


Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Retouching and changing a few backgrounds

I have received a challenge, to make the background more interesting for an image.
Here is what I came up with. Click on the images to view the high resolution size.







Check out my services http://pph.me/PaulCristian

Follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/pallkris

Contact at email: pallkrisdesign@gmail.com


Wednesday, July 22, 2015

WD Elements 1.5TB Portable Hard Drive Review on usb 2.0

Here are my thoughts about WD Elements 1.5TB Portable Hard Drive  (WDBU6Y0015BBK) on how it works connected to usb 2.0. My notebook does not have a 3.0 usb port, so a lower speed is expected.

As a freelance photo retoucher / graphic designer I need more and more local space on my hard drives. I started looking on portable options since it's easier for me to work on multiple windows computers, keeping all the files in one place.

I have decided to try Western Digital because of a "funny" story. A while back I dropped my dell notebook on the floor while it was on. The drop was from ~1m and pretty violent. I thought everything was lost. I really didn't expected that notebook to continue working, especially the hard drive. But it did. I downloaded a bunch of hhd test and repair tools from the internet and they found a few bad  / weak hdd sectors, marked as bad but no data was lost! This situation got me thinking: "This must be a strong hard drive". I verified and it was a Western Digital. This is how they bought my sympathy.

Back to the WD Elements 1.5TB Portable Hard Drive: it's a really small drive, a little bigger than a pack of cigars I would say.


The cable included is a bit short, only 30 - 40 cm. There are no buttons on this HDD, but there is a light showing the hard drive is functioning.


After I've connected this to my old laptop with windows xp and usb 2.0 - it was recognized and ready to use in a few seconds. Very easy to install also in Windows 7.

Speed is usually ~15 MB/ second on USB 2.0 which is great for what I need. Probably on USB 3.0 the speed would be twice or more. But my laptop has usb 2.0 so that's it for me.

The maximum speed is when I copy one big file close to 25 MB / s.
This is when I copy from my notebook to the  WD Elements 1.5TB Portable drive.



Copying fonts

Fonts are a big part in graphic design. I have thousands of fonts downloaded in my computer. Some of them are free, some are paid. Some are organized in folders like commercial use, personal use, free etc.
I wanted to see how is this hard drive dealing with thousands of small files. And it is very good: 7 MB / S.
when copying from internal disk to WD Elements 1.5TB Portable disk.

When I copy and read using same internal drive on my laptop I get 2.5 MB / s so probably I could get more than 7 MB with a faster internal drive.



As a final note, I'm quite happy with my WD Elements 1.5TB Portable Hard Drive. It's quite interesting that it has no visible ventilation system, although it does not get very hot.

Follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/pallkris

Check out my services http://pph.me/PaulCristian

Contact at email: pallkrisdesign@gmail.com


Saturday, July 11, 2015

50% OFF discount for my Logo Design Service



Yes, I have decided to launch this offer: 50% off for my logo design service. This could be useful for startups or companies who are seeking logo re-design.

You can check my latest logo design work by visiting the clients websites:
http://afghanshipping-logistics.com/
http://seloc-am.org/

Check more logo samples and order info here
http://www.peopleperhour.com/hourlie/design-the-logo-for-your-business/207959





Check out my services http://pph.me/PaulCristian

Follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/pallkris




Friday, July 10, 2015

Remote photo retouching service at PeoplePerHour.Com


I am working remotely / online for a while as a freelance graphic designer and photo retoucher.
This is a "hourlie", meaning an online service offered via PeoplePerHour.Com

http://www.peopleperhour.com/hourlie/offer-high-end-professional-photo-retouching-for-your-image/195010

I can do many types of image editing. However, most of the time I cover this areas of photography retouching: portrait, fitness, fashion, beauty, family.




The standard price is $19, but professional photographers can contact me for custom pricing. I can work for $14/hour.

Here is my profile
http://pph.me/PaulCristian

Here is the $19 service
http://www.peopleperhour.com/hourlie/offer-high-end-professional-photo-retouching-for-your-image/195010



Wednesday, April 29, 2015

My logo design service at PeoplePerHour.Com

Hello,

I posted a logo design service at PeoplePerHour.Com
This services are called "hourlies", When you buy an hourlie, you actually hire a freelancer to do a specific job. Here is my hourlie:
http://www.peopleperhour.com/hourlie/design-a-custom-business-logo-in-vector-format/207959

The prices are affordable for most business startups. In general $60 - $150, depending on the type of logo and number of concepts. For example a logo like this one would be $150


An now, here is a logo design for $60.





Thursday, January 8, 2015

I updated my logo design portfolio

Ok, the time has come to update the portfolio.
With so many portfolio websites, it's hard to decide on only one :)
So I posted on many, until I will keep only one.

On carbonmade, I like to customize stuff
http://pallkris.carbonmade.com/

But on coroflot, it looks so professional!
http://www.coroflot.com/pallkrisdesign


I've also managed somehow to make a slideshow on youtube with my best logo designs
http://youtu.be/-edVOBn6Jbs

I'll try to embed here