Colorburned » Monthly Reviews

Best of the Web – February 2009

Grant Friedman — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:43:58 +0000

February was another fantastic month in the design community. Tons of excellent articles, tutorials and resources were published on a growing number of design websites. February in particular was one of the busiest months I’ve had in a long time. In addition to keeping this site up-to-date, I have also been working heavily on my book, as well as guest posting on some other sites as well. This post is a review of some of my favorite articles from the month of February.

GUEST ARTICLES I’VE WRITTEN

VECTORTUTS: Best of the Web – February 2009
Every month I write the Best of the Web article for VECTORTUTS. Check it out, there was a lot of great vector content this month.

Art Bistro: Survive an All Nighter
An article rationalizing the nocturnal life-style.

Art Bistro: Choosing Design as a Degree Can Give You an Edge
Choosing a design degree can be the difference between finding a job and not. This article explains why.

FAVORITE TUTORIALS

Tutorial for Colorful Lighting Effect In Illustrator
This is a really nice tutorial explaining how to create a smokey light effect in Illustrator.

Picking Colors for Your Design
I’m a sucker for Fireworks tutorials. Here’s a great screencast from my friends at From the Couch.

DESIGN NEWS

Logo Designer Blog
A new blog by Jacob Cass from Just Creative Design.

WhatTheFont for iPhone
Did you know that you can now identify fonts using your iPhone with My Font’s new What the font tool?

5 Reasons to Subscribe to Design Blogs
My Ink Blog gives the rationale for subscribing to RSS feeds.

Meet the New Tuts
Envato’s TUTS family of websites gets a re-branding.

Go Media Vector Set 14
Go Media releases the complete Vector Set 14.

Graphic River
Sell your design files on Graphic River!

January 2009 Review

Grant Friedman — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:17:58 +0000

This month, I have decided to do something a little different with the Monthly Review Article. Instead of reviewing everything that I’ve done on this site over the last month, I decided instead, to pass on some news and information about what I’m doing to help improve this website as well as what I’m doing on other sites besides this one.

In terms of traffic, January was another big month for this site. In fact, January was this site’s second biggest month. The biggest month this site has ever had was November of last year. That month, this site saw over 63,000 visits and close to 130,000 page views. In comparison, January claimed over 53,000 visits and over 103,000 page views. While there is a considerable difference in the number of visits and page views between those two months, I do try to take into consideration that in November, one of my articles hit the front page of Digg, skewing the statistics. Overall, I am very happy with how this site is turning out and am very appreciative to all my readers.

While, I am please with the traffic for January you may have also noticed my announcement to close the Colorburned Shop. Many people have asked why. The answer is that the shop just wasn’t that profitable. It was a fun experiment and I was glad to offer those all those items but I just felt that my time and money could be used in better ways. I’d like to thank everyone who purchased those items. I really appreciate the business and the support of this site!

In addition to the closing of the shop, you may have also noticed the new logo and new ad space that is now present on the site. I’ve been teasing the logo for months so I finally decided to go ahead and add it to the site’s header even though the site’s new design is not yet complete. I also added some new ad slots which quickly filled up. As always, I’d like to thank my site’s new sponsors, Proof HQ, IAC-EZ, Stock Vault, Shopify, Designious, and Stock Graphic Designs. I’d also like to thank my other sponsors, E.Webscapes and Elegant Themes. You guys are the best and I could not keep this site going without you!

In addition to making some changes to this site, I have also been busy as usual working on guest posts on other sites. In January, I wrote my first article for ArtBistro.com. ArtBistro is a social network that is part of the Monster.com family of sites. I should be writing 2 articles a month for them so keep an eye out. In addition to that, I wrote a review of Phantasm CS for Fuel Your Creativity as well as my monthly article for VECTORTUTS. Needless to say, I’ve been keeping myself busy.

Each month, things seem to get a little bit better around here. I’m really excited for what the next few months have in store and I’m looking forward to having this site’s 1st birthday in May I’m hoping to have a REALLY big contest in celebration!

2008: A Year in Review

Grant Friedman — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:19:00 +0000

In 2008, this website celebrated a number of exciting milestones. In May, I officially launched this site as a means to display my personal portfolio to prospective employers. At the time, I had just lost my job and I was looking to start fresh in a new design job somewhere. As time went on, the focus of this site changed from a means to showcase my portfolio to a platform to share my opinions and design resources with other designers. Since then, I’ve published some really great articles, freebies and tutorials but since this site is relatively new I decided to review some of my favorite posts just in case some of you guys missed them. Thanks again and I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

BRUSHES

Vector Freebies: Paint Brushes Set 4

The Most Retro Line Illustrator Brushes Ever!

104 Incredible Retro-Style Pixelated Illustrator Brushes

50 Ridiculous Retro-Style Broken Line Illustrator Brushes

105 Stunning Retro Tech-Shaped Illustrator Brushes

106 Delicious Water Color Illustrator Brushes

105 More Delicious Water Color Illustrator Brushes

104 Scribbled Dry Erase Marker-Styled Illustrator Brushes

81 Amazing Argyle Illustrator Brushes

VECTORS

50 Krazy Kaleidoscope Doodad Vectors

10 Scribbled Snowflake Vectors

SWATCHES

50 Plaid Pattern Illustrator Swatches

50 Astonishing Argyle Pattern Swatches for Illustrator

25 Seamless Polka Dot Pattern Swatches

55 Seamless Line & Crosshatch Swatches

TEXTURES

Free Textures: Dry Sand

TUTORIALS

Create a Burberry Style Plaid with Illustrator in 4 Steps

Create a Burberry Style Plaid Part II: Applying a Twill Pattern

INTERVIEWS

Meet Designer & Blogger Adelle Charles

Meet Bittbox Founder Jay Hilgert

Meet Abduzeedo Founder Fabio Sasso

Meet Sean Hodge, Editor of PSDTUTS & VECTORTUTS

Meet Steven Snell, the Man Behind Vandelay Design, DesignM.ag and Traffikd

Meet Andrew Houle, Founder of MyInkBlog.com

Meet Lisa Sabin-Wilson, The Person Who Literally Wrote the Book on Wordpress

ARTICLES

127 RSS Feeds That All Designers Should Subscribe To

63 Extraordinary Companies that Support the Design Community

Best of Colorburned – December 2008 Reviewed

Grant Friedman — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:46:42 +0000

As you guys know, each month I post a review of all the things that I’ve been up to on this site. December was another great month, I was able to get a lot of things done in what seemed to be a very short amount of time; especially with the Holidays coming at the end. This month I was able to post quite a few articles, tutorials, freebies and of course contests in addition to some other exciting projects that I am working on. So, if you missed anything because of the holidays, please feel free to review some of the things I’ve been up to this month.

SPONSORS

You may have noticed a new sponsor in my side bar. Elegant Themes was kind of enough to be my site’s second sponsor. Check out this review of Elegant Themes that I wrote. I’d also like to thank E.Webscapes for continuing to support my site. If you haven’t checked out their services, give their site a look or take a look at the interview I did with Lisa Sabin-Wilson, the company’s Owner/Creative Director.

THE COLORBURNED SHOP

In December, I slashed the price of all the textures in the Colorburned Shop to just $20. I also adjusted the individual cost of each set making them less than $5 each. If you’ve got a little extra holiday cash lying around, browse over to the Colorburned Shop and purchase all 352 textures for just $20.

COLORBURNED IN THE WILD

In addition to the resources that I offer on this site, I also occasionally design resources for other sites as well. Last month I created some really cool snowflake brushes for VECTORTUTS, they are definitely worth a look if you still need some snowflakes for your winter designs.

In addition to that I also write the monthly round up article on VECTORTUTS so keep a look out for that article and remember to send those articles my way if you see any that might be appropriate.

CONTESTS

Also, I would like to thank Digital Anarchy for providing 2 copies of Knoll Light Factory for me to give away on this site. I would also like to thank everyone who participated in this great contest. If you missed the contest, check out Knoll Light Factory, it’s a great Photoshop plug-in for creating realistic lens flares and lighting effects.

I’d also like you guys to keep an eye out for another great contest on this site next week!

BEST OF COLORBURNED – DECEMBER 2008

Freebies

55 Seamless Line & Crosshatch Swatches

10 Scribbled Snowflake Vectors

50 Snowflake Scatter Brushes (VECTORTUTS)

10 Arrowhead Brushes for Illustrator

Tutorials

Create a Burberry Style Plaid Part II: Applying a Twill Pattern

Articles

63 Extraordinary Companies that Support the Design Community

Meet Steven Snell, the Man Behind Vandelay Design, DesignM.ag and Traffikd

Meet Andrew Houle, Founder of MyInkBlog.com

Meet Lisa Sabin-Wilson, The Person Who Literally Wrote the Book on Wordpress

Check Out Elegant Themes

Best of Colorburned – November 2008

Grant Friedman — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:40:06 +0000

November was by far the biggest month this website has seen in terms of popularity and traffic. I’ve been humbled and excited by the support that I have received from my readers and friends in the design community and am very excited to see what the future has in store for this site.

In this past, I’ve posted a monthly review of everything that has happened on this site. This month, I’ve decided to try something a bit different and instead of simply re-posting what I’ve done on this site, I’ve recorded a few comments on video and have made some notes below. I hope you enjoy this new feature and cut me a bit of slack as I get used to being on camera. Feel free to leave your comments below; I am interested to know what you think about this format.

NEW SPONSOR!

First off, I’d like to thank my site’s first sponsor. E.Webscapes is blog design studio operated by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. The E.Webscapes team are certified Wordpress Evangelists. In fact, Lisa literally wrote the book on Wordpress. Don’t be fooled however, the E.Webscapes team are also experts with alternative blogging platforms such as Moveable Type, TypePad and Blogger as well.

I have used E.Webscapes’ services before and fully recommend them to any designer who needs help with HTML/CSS/Blog Implementation. If you’re not a designer, that’s ok too. E.Webscapes also offers design services as well. Contact them today for more information!

Want to sponsor this site too? Purchase a banner ad today!

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

As I said earlier, November was by far the best month that this website has seen in terms of traffic. In fact, last month this site kicked down the door and set the old record on fire receiving 63,165 visits and nearly 130,000 page views. That’s just a tad bit less than all the previous months combined. While I owe much of that increase to this post, I have also seen considerable increases in this site’s daily traffic which is also great news.

While, I have also seen a considerable rise in daily traffic, the number of readers who view my site through their RSS reader has increased from just over 300 subscribers at the end of October to nearly 1,200 subscribers as of today; that’s a 4 fold increase for anyone keeping track.

Needless to say, I’m excited in the direction that this site is taking. I am also excited about the future. For those of you who follow me on Twitter or Flickr, you may have seen a new logo that I have been working on. This is in anticipation for a major re-branding and website re-design which will hopefully take place over the next few months. I will keep you all apprised of my progress.

COLORBURNED IN THE WILD

While I have been very active creating new content for this site, I have also been working on creating content for other sites as well. Every month I write the VECTORTUTS “Best of the Web” article. Feel free to check out the VECTORTUTS November Wrap Up and remember to let me know when you have a vector related tutorial, freebie or article that you’d like me to help promote. I will make sure to save the link and consider it for that article.

In addition to the “Best of the Web” article I have created a number of vector freebies for VECTORTUTS which have yet to be published. Look for them to be posted within the next couple of weeks.

COLORBURNED CONTESTS

In addition to writing articles and creating exclusive content for other sites, I’ve also been sponsoring contests all around the web in an attempt to spread the word about this site as well as the Colorburned Shop and the high resolution premium textures available there.

I worked with Jay from Bittbox on a very successful texture give away on his site last month that received 476 entries; which from what I understand is now Bittbox’s second most-successful give away right behind the iPhone give away that he did last January to celebrate the site’s one-year anniversary.

In addition to the Bittbox contest I also sponsored a contest on Just Creative Design that helped raise $1,620 for the Blog Action Day Poverty Relief Fund.

If you would like Colorburned to sponsor a contest on your site feel free to contact me and pitch your idea.

BEST OF COLORBURNED – NOVEMBER 2008

Tutorials

Create a Burberry Style Plaid with Illustrator in 4 Steps

Render an Anime Influenced Fashion Sketch

Freebies

25 Seamless Polka Dot Pattern Swatches

50 Krazy Kaleidoscope Doodad Vectors

81 Amazing Argyle Illustrator Brushes

Articles

127 RSS Feeds That All Designers Should Subscribe To

Interviews

Meet Sean Hodge, Editor of PSDTUTS & VECTORTUTS

Meet Abduzeedo Founder Fabio Sasso

A Shout to my Friends
I also want to thank the top ten bloggers that linked to me during the month of November. Without you guys my site would never have gotten off the ground. Thank you guys, you are great!

Best of Colorburned – October 2008

Grant Friedman — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:16:02 +0000

Well, it’s been another exciting month here on Colorburned. In terms of traffic, October 2008 was the best month ever receiving over 35,000 visits and 85,000 page views. The site has come a long way in the last 5 months or so and it’s really developing into a really nice resource for graphic designers.

Every month I try to post a review of everything that has happened on this site and elsewhere. I’ve been really busy this month producing resources for you guys to use in your work but I have also published some great interviews, articles and even sponsored some great contests on some other sites.

Free Downloads

Tutorials

Learn the Basics of Fashion Sketching in Illustrator with These 8 Eye-Opening Video Tutorials

Working With Pattern Swatches in Illustrator

Interviews

Meet Bitt Box Founder Jay Hilgert

Meet Designer & Blogger Adelle Charles

Articles

The Freelancer’s Guide to Surviving the Economic Crisis

Contests

Colorburned Texture Pack Giveaway!
In October, Colorburned sponsored a free texture giveaway on YoutheDesigner which received over 130 responses. A big thanks to Gino from YoutheDesigner for putting the contest on and a big congrats to Tadd who won over 300 textures from the shop! For those who didn’t win, add me as a friend on Twitter, browse on over to the Colorburned Shop and enter the discount code TWITTERFRIENDS to receive all 300 textures for only $25, a $10 discount.

A Shout to my Friends

This is something new that I’m doing. While a lot of my site’s traffic comes from search engines and social networking sites, I also get quite a bit of traffic from my friends around the blogosphere. In this section I want to list my top 10 referrers for the month of October and say thanks!

September 2008 in Review

Grant Friedman — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:05:25 +0000

September was a crazy month for me but a great month for Colorburned. I spent half of this month either without electricity or in New York City but in the time I wasn’t either traveling or sitting in the dark, I was able to post quite a few great articles and freebies to the site. Below you will find a review of the great content that was posted on this site.

Freebies

Articles

August 2008 in Review

Grant Friedman — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:27:15 +0000

When I launched Colorburned.com four months ago, I had originally envisioned it as primarily a portfolio site to display my work. Since then, the design has remained largely the same but the scope and direction of the site has changed dramatically. While I am still using the site to display my work, I am also using the site share resources with my friends in the design community. Since I started offering textures, tutorials and vector freebies on the site, traffic has steadily increased and so has the readership. I’ve been excited but also humbled by the warm reception that you readers have given me. With August 2008 being my biggest month in terms of traffic, I thought I’d offer my first monthly review.

ILLUSTRATOR BRUSHES

TEXTURES

Advertisers Welcome!
You may or may not have noticed that I am now accepting sponsors. If you would like to become a sponsor and place advertising on this site, purchase some space today!

Colorburned Shop
Support this website by purchasing textures from the Colorburned Shop. The Colorburned Shop hosts over 300 high resolution, high quality textures for a very reasonable price. For a limited time you can purchase all 300 textures for 50% off their original price. That means you’ll receive all 300 images for just over $35 USD.

More Freebies
Get more free stuff in our Freebies section!

Promote Your Work
Feel free to post your designs in the Colorburned User Showcase.