Category: Resources online

Picular colour Picker

Design / Resources online3 Comments

Picular is a fast colour picker that uses Google’s image search to make the selection.  Type in a word and a colour palette is generated. I played with words such as Paris, spring, winter, summer, autumn, ice cream, lollie pop, candy, cake, beach, forrest, pebbles, sunset, flowers and feminine. I also had fun with words like joy, peace and laughter. The interface is fast and easy to use. Basically you type in a search term and hit enter. Picular then  generates a series of colour swatch tiles. For fun I typed in the word Paris. In the left had corner the RGB hex …

Werner’s nomenclature of colours

Design / Resources online2 Comments

German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner developed a detailed nomenclature – or naming system – colour guide published in 1821 under the flowery title of Werner’s nomenclature of colours : with additions, arranged so as to render it highly useful to the arts and sciences, particularly zoology, botany, chemistry, mineralogy, and morbid anatomy : annexed to which are examples selected from well-known objects in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Between the pages of this mouthful of a title is a type of colour dictionary which long predates Pantone colour swatches. It is an attempt to describe the colours of the …

Playing in the margins with Stephan Schriber’s Gothic manuscript

Books and Book Binding / Design / Resources online   / 9 Comments

Stephan Schriber kept an interesting sketchbook, as he was a mediaeval monk living in the south-west of Germany, who produced illuminated manuscripts. Simply described, Stephan Schriber’s sketchbook – dating from 1494 – is a collection of decorations, patterns and illustrations, but if you stop and imagine how it might have been used to produce illuminated manuscripts, its role in the process becomes even more interesting. The manuscript is of course highly decorative. Often, when writers refer to ‘decoration’, they are trying to suggest that the work is not as important as a piece of Art with a capital ‘A’. ‘Decoration’ and …

The 1000 Journals Project

Art Journals / Journaling / Resources online / Reviews2 Comments

I have always been fascinated by 1000 journals project.  Browsing the website I enjoy the raw, unmediated creativity of it. Since the project started there has been a film made about it and a book produced. Today I thought I would share some links to this inspirational site Graphic designer Brian Singer who goes by the name “Someguy” purchased blank journals real, physical book kind of blank journals and released them into the world in the summer of 2000 in other words he gave them to friends, left them public places such as coffee shops, book stores,libraries, park benches.The project …

British Library has over a million images online in the public domain

Resources online1 comment

Over the last few years the British Library, has digitised books, manuscripts, and all manner of printed media from their collection. They have compiled over a million images which are released in the public domain so you can use them. Anyone who does collage will enjoy their flickr stream. They state here on British Library’s site that We have released over a million images onto Flickr Commons for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. These images were taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books digitised by Microsoft who then generously gifted the scanned images to us, …

The History of Typography in 5 minutes

Resources online1 comment

The History of Typography is a creative and pretty cool animation by Ben Barrett-Forrest. Needless to say it is about the history of fonts and typography. Take 5 and spend a few minutes to view and not only will you be entertained I bet you will learn something too. In a Minute Ago delivered to your inbox Use the subscribe feature in the sidebar. Enter your email address, and when you get the confirmation email make sure you activate it and you are all set! If you are on a mobile or tablet you will need to scroll to the …

Choosing an Eraser

Equipment and Supplies / Resources online / Sketching5 Comments

If you have ever been dazzled by how many erasers in an art store you will find Choosing a Rubber: Comparing Erasers is a huge comprehensive article. I know many people think that an eraser is big no-no but that is tosh as erasers can be a great tool for subtractive drawing techniques where you lay down a colour or a layer of graphite then pick out highlights with and eraser. There is also nothing wrong with erasing the odd line or two Some of the questions Julie tests and discovers the answers for are “I set out to see …

Stefan Baumann classes on YouTube

Resources online8 Comments

Stefan Baumann creates videos of many of his classes. They are great online resources that people can view. This one is a gem as he launches into a talk about what is take to become an artist and how to develop your style. The video starts out with a discussion about colour charts and colour wheels then develops from there. Stefan Baumann is very real teacher (although he calls himself a coach) and I always enjoy his forthright manner as he usually hits the nail on the head . Make a cuppa and take some time to watch. It is …