Saturday, December 29, 2007

10 Sites to Find Free Graphic Design Courses Online

10 Sites to Find Free Graphic Design Courses Online

You don't need a degree to become a graphic designer, but a little bit of training won't hurt. Read on to find out where you can get graphic design lessons and tutorials free of charge.

1. Sessions Online School of Design - DesignMentor Training (sessions.edu)

The Sessions Online School of Design recently started offering free graphic design tutorials written by class instructors. The online tutorials can be accessed from the site without registration and include step-by-step instructions, screen shots and more.

2. Designer Today Magazine (designertoday.com)

Designer Today Magazine offers a number of free graphic design tutorials online to subscribers and non-subscribers alike. Tutorials include step-by-step instructions, project files and images. There are up to 30 new tutorials published every month, so finding a topic of interest shouldn't be a problem.

3. Adobe Online Training (adobe.com)

Adobe offers a number of sample courses for graphic designers that can be tried out for free online. Course options include Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe InDesign CS2, Adobe Acrobat 7.0 and Adobe Premiere Elements. Registration is required.

4. QuarkEd (quark.com)

QuarkEd offers QuarkXpress training for beginners and old hands. Training is broken down into individual lessons that can be downloaded one file at a time. Registration is not required, but you will need QuarkXPress 7 to complete the modules.

5. Planet Photoshop (planetphotoshop.com)

Published by KW Media, Planet Photoshop is a huge website dedicated to everything Photoshop. There are hundreds of tutorials, videos, reviews and resources. You'll also find a blog and a forum for graphic designers who want to exchange ideas and information.

6. Tutorial Man (tutorialman.com)

TutorialMan.com is a wonderful resource for free Photoshop tutorials. The site includes a searchable database, as well as links to other sites with free graphic design courses and online tutorials.

7. QoolSqool (qoolsqool.com)

Qoolsqool is an open educational resource that is free for everyone. The site provides links to the websites of universities and other educators who offer free graphic design courses and tutorials. All of the links are submitted by educators and QoolSqool members.

8. About Graphic Design (about.com)

About.com provides an endless supply of graphic design courses, tutorials and how-to's. Many of them are accessible straight from the site, but there are a few that are delivered weekly via email.

9. Web Design From Scratch (webdesignfromscratch.com)

Web Design From Scratch was started by web consultant Ben Hunt and is published using the shareware principal (meaning it is free of charge). As the name suggests, the site focuses on graphic design for the web. There are hundreds of tutorials available; all can be accessed directly from the site.

10. Absolute Cross (absolutecross.com)

Absolute Cross bills itself as a one stop resource for graphic designers. The site provides free tutorials, graphics and website templates. You'll also find a ton of free downloads and links to other helpful sites.

Liquid Art

Luiz Luxvich makes startlingly clear images of splashing water

This master from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has a good presence on flickr, so make sure to check out the rest of his colorful creations.






(images credit: Luiz Luxvich)

Amazingly, water looks simply great without any added coloring, like in these shots from the French photographer :






Liquid Sculptures of Martin Waugh

Martin Waugh at Liquid Sculpture is perhaps the most famous artist in this "sub-genre". His works are described as full of "fun, whimsy and wonder". The full gallery is here, and it is exceptional.





Water Kiss!


(images credit: Martin Waugh)

More Surreal Colored Drops

These droplets seem to have a life of their own. This kind of action might have inspired prominent science fiction artist Richard M. Powers to come up with his famous fluid-forms compositions.

Fotoopa photographer from Belgium makes art, which is one million times better than a lava lamp, trust me...












(image credit: fotoopa)

Got Milk? Spill it, Drip it, Swirl it! (artistically)

Milk Drop:


(image credit: Michele M. Ferrario)

Drops of food coloring comprise the artistically-pleasing set by Peter Ovesny:



Tentacle!



Splashes of colors:


(images credit: Peter Ovesny)


(image credit: Irene Mueller)

Not mercury, not ice - just water... splendid water:



Woke up one morning, saw this thing crawling toward me across the sink... decided to go to sleep some more -


(image credit: Carolina LaBranche)

Carolina LaBranche (Cayoyin) writes to us: "The picture was not retouched on the computer by any means. It is just like it trasferred directly form the memory card of the camera".

Coffee Meets Milk

Gorgeous "liquid art" photography by Irene Muller, who brings coffee & milk to an entirely new level of existence. With her permission, here are some samples of this highly delicate art:







You own personal caffeine octopus:





You want eggs with that?



Blueberry Milkshake:





Suspended...


(images credit: Irene Muller)


For more great examples of colored drops high-speed photography we're going to recommend this flickr group. The following photographs, though, we've received without any credit, so please let us know if you recognize them:








(image credit: Ratow, 3D rendering)







Cold Shower Splendor

Next time someone overturns a bucket of cold water over your head, perhaps they are just (selfishly) taking a picture... like this one:


(image credit: Helene Desplechin)





While the water flow looks definitely mesmerizing in high-speed photography, the fall of individual droplets, one after another, can also produce fascinating effect:

Dynamics of the Droplet's Fall

In these shots we can trace the physics of water's flow in an individual caplet form, which seem to be quite complex:










(images credit: bigmir)

In Your Face!

Liquid Art's often used in promotional and advertisement photography:





Droplets Potpourri

The Universe reflected in a single drop, or a necklace of droplets:


(image credit: Irene Mueller)














(originals unknown)

Speaking of droplets and bubbles, one of their most artistic representation must be a series by Linda. Here is one example:


(image credit: Linda)

Most of the effects presented here have explanation in water's surface tension. Soap bubbles, especially of the huge variety, demonstrate this force most clearly:




(images credit: waykhoolsites)