Pixel Point

Hey everyone! 😊

I'm looking to have a custom theme designed for Spark Promotion, and I'm happy to pay for the work.

I'm not entirely sure what I want the theme to look like just yet, so I'm open to ideas and suggestions. I'd love something modern, professional, and fitting for a forum promotion community.

A few things I'm looking for:

- A custom, unique design for Spark Promotion.

- Both light and dark mode options.

- A responsive design that works well on desktop and mobile.

- A theme that is exclusive to Spark Promotion and not resold or shared with other forums.

As I'm paying for a custom design, exclusivity is important to me. I want something that is made specifically for Spark Promotion.

If you're a theme designer interested in taking on this project, please let me know what you can offer, examples of your previous work, and how much you'd charge.

I'm happy to discuss ideas and work together to come up with something great!

Thanks! 😊

To help those of you who don’t currently own Photoshop or are looking for a lightweight alternative, I’ve compiled a list of software that can be used to achieve similar things.

These are in no particular order. Any suggestions can be added in the future, and this is still a WIP.

1) GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)

Price: Free

Description: GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc. GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

Features: Painting, Advanced Manipulation, Animation, much, much more!

Personal Experience: I personally used GIMP before purchasing Photoshop. It has similar attributes and was extremely lightweight and didn’t use much of my computer’s memory at the time. It’s definitely at the top of my list in terms of alternatives to Photoshop.

Link: https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

2) Photoshop Express

Price: Free

Description: Photoshop Express gives you everything you need to quickly edit and transform images so they stand out on social and everywhere else. And with the option to add premium features, you can make advanced edits in a snap.

Features: Basic image editing, extremely lightweight, web based, free to use while giving you a taste of Photoshop, no need to register to use.

Personal Experience: I’ve used Photoshop Express to edit images for social media but that’s about it. I have no reason to use it as I have the full Photoshop package, but it can give you a taste of what Photoshop has to offer.

Link: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-express.html

3) Canva

Price: Free, web based. A paid version is also available at $119.99 when paid annually or $12.99 paid monthly.

Description: Launched in 2013, Canva is an online design and visual communication platform with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere.

Features: Curved text generator, photo effects, image enhancer, add frames to photos, add text to photos, online video recorder, video trimmer, convert videos to MP4.

Personal Experience: I’ve personally only used Canva twice and only recently heard of it a few weeks ago. It’s definitely a powerful application packed into a browser. It’s great to see things that are easily accessible nowadays. I’ve heard great things and it’s definitely something you should try out with the numerous templates available to you.

Link: https://www.canva.com/

4) Paint.NET

Price: Free

Description: The application has been extensively rebuilt to improve functionality and ease of use while packing numerous new features into the now familiar user interface (UI). paint.net 5 works exclusively on the Windows operating system, requiring Windows 10 as a minimum.

Features: Open and edit multiple images, layers, unlimited history, support for many popular file formats, extensions.

Personal Experience: I’ve used Paint.NET in the past but always found myself going back to GIMP whenever needed. I also used a Mac back in the day and just felt more comfortable in GIMP since Paint.NET wasn’t available on Apple products. Still a great and free alternative to Photoshop though.

Link: https://getpaint.net/download.html

5) Inkscape

Price: Free

Description: Inkscape is a free and open source vector graphics editor for GNU/Linux, Windows and macOS. It offers a rich set of features and is widely used for both artistic and technical illustrations such as cartoons, clip art, logos, typography, diagramming and flowcharting. It uses vector graphics to allow for sharp printouts and renderings at unlimited resolution and is not bound to a fixed number of pixels like raster graphics.

Features: Object creation, object manipulation, fill and stroke, operations on paths, text support, rendering, tons of file formats.

Personal Experience: I don’t think I’ve ever used Inkscape before but I’ve seen it used. It’s not extremely popular but it is open source. Also, it provides elements that are not seen in some of the previous ones listed.

Link: https://inkscape.org/release/

Here are some resources that could be helpful.

Programs:

• GIMP - Free graphics software

• Paint.NET - Free graphics software

• Canva - Free/paid graphics software

• Inkscape - Free graphics software

Upload Servers:

• Imgur - Image upload server

• Mediafire - File upload server

• Mega - File upload server

Resources:

• 1001FreeFonts - Fonts

• DaFont - Fonts

• Lorem Ipsum - Fake text for web design

• Brusheezy - Photoshop brushes

• Dirt2 - Resources, brushes, fonts, etc.

• Adobe Color Wheel - Color schemes

• DeviantArt - Artwork and resources

• Sprite Database - Game sprites

• GFXSource - Renders/C4Ds

• TextureLabs - Textures/tutorials

• PremiumPixels - PSDs

• FreeImages - Photos, vectors, clipart, PSDs, and icons

• GFX Plug - Free/paid resources

Tutorials:

• Abduzeedo

• Tuts+

• Tutorialized

• TutVid

• Tutzor

Many of these are resources that I’ve used in the past and can be useful in many ways. If you feel like there’s something else that could be added, feel free to post below and I’ll edit accordingly.

We all have to start somewhere right?

1. Keep is simple stupid (KISS)
   I feel like most artists try to outdo themselves when they're just starting out. Just keep it simple and as you progress down the line of improving, try to expand your abilities and provide yourself a stepping stone to improving.

2. Setting a goal
   Set a goal in mind whenever you're creating a graphic or designing something. Imagine in your head what you're trying to achieve and try to make that happen. I tend to get lost in the "sauce" when designing sometimes and try to slap a bunch of things together when I should be looking at the end picture here.

3. Consistency
   A lot of newer designers will try to pump out multiple things in an attempt to get better but this isn't always optimal. Try learning new things and applying that knowledge to the same design to better it. Try to develop a style that suits you and your skillset and perfect that.

4. Talk to other designers
   The best way to improve as a designer yourself, is interacting with other designers on a consistent basis. Take comments and critiques in stride and use those comments to improve yourself as an artist. Get yourself out there and you'll meet some fantastic people that can help you develop as a premier graphic designer.

5. Experiment
   Once you've started to master a style or you feel a change is needed, experiment with other styles. Try something that you aren't comfortable with, who knows, you may be better at something than you think. There's one thing that I can say from experience, fail fast. Trying out other styles helps you decide what you're good at and what needs to be worked on. When experimenting, you may develop a new look that you can apply to an old design to make it even better.

6. Get the most from feedback
   You have to learn to take critiques and comments in stride. This was previously said in the "Talk to other designers" section, but it's extremely important and needs to be emphasized. How you deal with feedback is probably one of the most important aspects of being a graphic designer. You're going to receive feedback from clients that may not be happy with your work, but at the end of the day, it'll help you improve as an artist. One of the keys to getting useful feedback is to ask specific questions. "How is the text placement and how can I improve?". Asking simple questions such as "How does this look?", will typically get a similar response such as, "This looks great!". If you're really looking to improve as an artist, it's really important to understand feedback and to ask the right questions to help yourself improve.

7. Tutorials
   One of the things that helped myself develop my own skills were tutorials. There are plenty of tutorials on the internet nowadays that are important to each style. I've developed my own style by watching tutorials or reading them and it's extremely important to try these out to develop your abilities as an artist. Some important ones that I can think of off the top of my head would be text placement tutorials, brush tutorials, and blending tutorials to name a few.

8. Inspiration
   I've used other peoples work as inspiration to a piece that I've made in the past. Is there a design that truly inspires you and you love the way it looks? Is there a certain style that you love and want to replicate in your own way? Look to that for inspiration when designing your own things. Check out numerous artists on behance or dA to inspire new works from yourself, but don't completely copy their design.

These are just a few of the tips that I can list off the top of my head, if there are any others that people would suggest, feel free to list them below and I can edit the original post.

Every designer has a few fonts they always seem to reach for. Maybe it’s the one that saves a project when nothing else looks right, or the one you’ve used so often you could spot it from across the room.

Share your favorites:

• Which fonts do you use the most? It can be one or a list of fonts.

• Why do they work? Is it the readability, the personality, or something else?

• What do you use them for? Logos, headings, themes, signatures, posters?

• Any font pairings you swear by?