My teaching style usually emphasises creative projects with children where they are actively engaged in inventing music, and seeking out solutions to musical problems or challenges. However, it needs to be said that this approach (which I believe to be far richer pedagogically, leading to deep musical understanding among children) can be very demanding on the teacher:

• It requires you to think on your feet, constantly ready to respond to the music as it emerges from the children’s efforts;
• My creative projects often span several weeks, if not the whole term, so there can be quite a lot of planning and developing that needs to take place between each lesson;
• When children get over-excited through the freedom of the process (which can happen, and is quite an issue at Pelican PS), then a huge amount of energy needs go into simply containing them and keeping the process on track. It is this last point that I think I find the most debilitating sometimes.

By the time Term 4 started, I knew I was feeling pretty weary. It has been a busy year of projects! The children were too, so I decided to develop a number of ‘directed’ projects for us all, projects that would involve playing and singing, but primarily through learning material, rather than inventing it.

It has proved a good tactic. At the Language School, the Middle Primary class with its very particular group of demanding, narcissistic boys has really benefited from learning specific, pre-existing material. There had been too much hijacking of creative tasks in previous terms, in terms of disruptive behaviour, and tantrums when collaborative processes didn’t go their way, and things felt much calmer this term.

Here’s a rundown of the kinds of things we’ve done:

Lower Primary – Learning the song Ho ho watanay and developing accompaniments (some learned, some invented). Lots of instruments, and detailed structure to memorise.

Middle Primary – Learning the song Ah ya zahn (traditional song in Arabic from Lebanon) with various learned instrumental accompaniments. This song introduced the children to thefull chromatic glockenspiels, and they learned to play the melody, with its wonderfully twisting, middle-eastern mode.

Upper Primary – Learning the song Sakura form Japan (both in Japanese and in the English translation that I wrote some years ago). The UP students also created new melodic material on glockenspiels, using a Japanese mode (take off all the Gs and Ds so that you are left with F-A-B-C-E). I asked them to think of a flower or plant that is special to the country they come from. From these suggestions we developed three spoken phrases, with rhythms implied by the syllables of the words. Then, working in teams, they selected notes from the mode in order to make a melody to this rhythm. Their words included:

Hababa flower, many colours (from Ethiopia, Oromo people)

Some big, some small, pink, purple, white and blue

Yellow sunflower, follows the sun (suggested by an Assyrian boy from Iraq)

Shishke on the Christmas tree, all the year round (from a Russian girl)

At Pelican Primary School, things have been similarly structured:

Preps and Grade Ones have invented their own simple version of the song Driving in my car (originally by the UK pop group Madness). These are very cute songs. We’re trying to add instruments, and on a good day, it all comes together.

Grade ones and Twos are singing The Earth is our mother and have created several melodic phrases inspired by sentences that describe ways to keep the planet healthy.

Grades 3 and 4 have learned to sing Ah Ya Zahn and developed similar accompaniments to those that I’ve taught at the Language School.

However, my Pelican Primary School experiences are making me re-think a lot of the creative work that I do. These children have so much creative energy, but zero internal discipline (as a group) to hold their focus long enough to make something work. In my experience, this kind of constant distraction, or distractedness, is quite common in schools where there are high numbers of refugee-background students. These kids have so much to gain from well-managed, clearly-structured creative processes. However, many of the tactics I have developed at the Language School have been proving too loose for the children at Pelican PS.

I’ve spoken about this with some of the other teachers, and they confirm that this lack of capacity to engage well with creative tasks occurs in other classes too. “Even just having a discussion about something with the class is very difficult in this school,” one teacher admitted. The disciplines of listening to each other, taking turns, not interrupting or shouting another person down, aren’t really present.

In music too, more open tasks make many of the students feel uncertain about what is expected of them, and this uncertainty (coupled perhaps with general insecurities, and the abstract nature of music in the first place) sees them go off-task very quickly, and just make random noise.

I’ve written before (see here) about the way the Pelican students seem to respond to noise in general, and specifically to multiple sources of sound in music. Little by little I am realising that the strategies I’ve been developing for ESL/ELL students in the Language School can’t be transferred here automatically. The students in the Language School have a far greater capacity to focus and remain engaged.  Perhaps the length of general classroom focus is always determined by the shortest attention span – or the shortest attention span among the more dominant class members!

There are lots of children from refugee backgrounds at Pelican Primary School. If we think about survival skills – being able to stand up for yourself, and get what you need for you and your family, making sure your voice is heard over the top of many other voices, making sure you are never at the end of a line, no matter what, being quick to react to any new potential threats around you, and learning to respond to a constantly chaotic environment – then we can see a kind of progression from those survival tactics to the common strategies employed by many students in the school. Lots of shouting over each other, interrupting conversations (often not noticing if said conversation is even taking place!), turning heads to watch whatever is taking place elsewhere in the room, and so on.

I feel very sure that music can offer these children opportunities  and motivation to break some of these patterns, and to experience themselves as learners in a different way. Creative music-making offers the additional benefit of a sense of ownership over the music, a validation and endorsement of one’s own contributions to the process, a deep understanding of the music from the inside out, and a powerful means of self-expression and individual voice. But I do need to figure out some new and powerful ways into creative music that scaffold each of the smallest of steps, and offer tangible experiences of success and delight to the students in as short a period of time as possible, due to those peskily short attention spans. Those experiences of success and delight are the key to their motivation to continue working cooperatively with me and with each other.

We have finished our update work.  And only now after work is finished we have recognized what a great work we have done. Here is final list it:

Alien Glyphs 1.1

1. Performance increase 15%
2. Multiplayer mode – Deathmatch (up to 4 players at the same time, compete their visual memory and reaction)
3. Three new modes:
   -          Quick Play – Survival game mode.  Mixed visual themes with dynamic escalating difficulty
   -          Time Attack – Mode to strike 60 glyphs with your best time
   -          Count Down – 3 minutes to play, get the best Score
4. Extra hard difficulty (Insane) for Survival mode
5. Four new OpenFeint achievements for any type of difficulty
6. One new great power up – Robot – you can activate Auto – Play for limited time
7. Four new visual themes (skins)- Plastic, Acid, Doodle, Fur
8. Voice notifications: pleasant woman computer style voice will tell you about main events
9. Graphic interface redesigned
10. Global High Scores for all new modes
11. News integration
12. OpenFeint 3.1.2 ready
13. German localization
14. Minor bugfix

A lot of that was described in our blog later with a pictures and video. We finish update work and continue work on our future projects with no doubt that we do quality iPhone games.

From/De: Capcom

Super Street Fighter IV:  Additional Modes Trailer – Tráiler de Modos Adicionales

4 New Modes | 4 Nuevos Modos:

Team Battle, Replay Channel, Endless Battle, Bonus Stages | Batalla en equipo , Canal Replay (Repetición), Batalla sin fin, Bonos por etapas.

The next Bus Pirate firmware release merges MIDI into the UART library. MIDI is just a specific serial protocol over a UART at 31250bps, 8/N/1. The latest nightly build adds option “10) 31250 (MIDI)” to the UART speed options. This also applies all the recent UART mode fixes to MIDI without duplicating code.

If you’ve used or plan to use MIDI on the Bus Pirate, we’d like to hear from you below the fold. As far as we know, MIDI mode has never been used.

There’s two reasons MIDI had its own library. The first is a historical artifact of the old user prompt that didn’t accept input longer than 1 number. There were already 9 UART speed options (1-9), so we couldn’t add a 10th. The better reason is that we wanted a clean workspace to integrate MIDI-centric macros and functions, but it’s never been used so it’s just wasting program space.

“The anecdote seemed to me redolent of the proud hopelessness of love mourned and championed in blues music, and, simultaneously, fired by the irresistible energy of jazz music. It asserted itself immediately and aggressively as the seed of a plot, a story line.” (Morrison, xvi)

This epiphany on behalf of Toni Morrison on the manner in which she would begin writing the experience of Jazz immediately brought to mind the discussion our class held on creating a new mode of expression for experiences we ourselves have not been through. Just as it is impossible to express a disaster, the expression of experience of another entity must be done in an indirect manner. In this case–and this is just a prediction, I’ve only read through the “Foreword”– Morrison clings to an ideal that can be juxtaposed with the one which she is striving to express. Implementing the “beat” in which jazz music is written and experienced, she creates a “beat” for her novel, changing the tone and message as she goes, much like in a song.

It isn’t surprising that music would be a method of thought in which to create a new form of writing. Differing types of art intrinsically all work to express the same ideals and experiences, just with slightly differing modes, appealing to varying senses and awarenesses on our part as the reader. In our struggle to invent a mode of thought and expression, this is something significant to consider.

An open sociologist always lads in a dark pit of confusion, I may mess with the theories and concepts. I agree with none of the social scientists, this may be because I have own set of ideas and approaches. Starting of with the she male topic, I guess they should be given some space in the society as they have been despaired by nature. So far when we see them on traffic signals asking for money people usually make fun of them or laugh at them, every single individual standing at the road side waiting for cars to stop so he could fill his pockets has a unique selling point that makes him look he is deserving, some may have broken legs, mental retardation, visually impaired, broken hands or burnt faces, so does the she males have. They clap and dance in order to entertain the people thus they could earn some money. I’m not supporting she males instead just providing a justification that if the she males are wrong then every single beggar on the street is. Now I would like to start with the modes of inquiry, the natural scientist approach that includes value statistics and believes that natural science is fact focused, but facts keep on changing with the values. Facts are undependable and can change when science progresses so depending on facts may not be the only solution, according to my opinion facts and values would create a proper solution. I may be wrong but facts are set and determined by a societies values, norms and neutrality. The second mode of inquiry, Descriptivist’s, who seem to be more interfering. A guy moves from America to Asia to study a particular tribe or religion, lets take Islam for instance. I being a Muslim, fear god, carry out religious traditions and follow the values on which the religion is set so how come an outsider who has never studied about Allah, nor he believes in him, can fear him? He may be able to prepare a research report but the descriptions of a particular tribe without their emotions and reasoning’s is useless. Descriptivist’s don’t judge the descriptions, so what’s the purpose of bringing up that fact in front of a large audience? If judgments are left to the people then 1000 people 1000 judgments thus the matter becomes more complicated here, people may have different logics and thus the matter is left to perceptions and interpretations, as studied in the last class. The third mode of inquiry, critical social science that conflicts with the first two, people have moral and spiritual values so why should an outsider who blends in a religion, tribe or a certain cast of people to carry out his research thus breaching the moral values (in Islam a non-Muslim spying is called a Hypocrite). An individual should not be allowed to hurt the values or criticize other religions, sects and tribes as human create their own meaning for everything (Here comes the post modern or social constructionist theory with which I agree). I wear my red jacket almost in all the business meetings because I think that the jacket is lucky and I would almost hit every tender with it, my psychology, this is because I have praised that jacket, some would say this is because of the grace of Allah (SWT) and some may regard this as luck. Why cant it be, people should be allowed to spend life in their own ways and their should be no one criticizing or humiliating them. I would bring up my own theory that you can call as Dr.Miqdad’s theoretical ideas. “Don’t criticize anyone if you don’t have proper reasoning’s”. If people regard mercy killing as right and you thing it is wrong then try convincing the latter with your logic and policies, if you outrage the argument then you are right and the latter is wrong. But denying things just for the heck of it is wrong, for instance in America a couple can spend a night without getting married because they think it is right so, for instance if you think that it’s a sin or unhealthy….PROVE IT…

So lately I was wondering why none of my friends like each others work? Ok not like, more like enjoy. I’ve considered the fact that we all do awful work, but I know this isn’t true. If there needs to be any proof of that, we all work for very either, respected or well known entities. We all get paid more than they average person and we all mostly like what we do. On a more indie note, we have all achieved some kind of noteworthy notes for what we do as more punk artists DIY kinda people.

I’m not trying to toot our collective horn,  just  there is some kind of proof that we exist and some people like our stuff.  So why don’t we enjoy each others stuff? What gets in the way of the same kind of appreciation that we all have for people’s work that we don’t know, aren’t friends with, and have no personal connection to?

I think it has something to do with only knowing one aspect of someone. I think is has something to do with why people are so shocked with Tiger Woods for being a crazy bitch on the golf course, Britney Spears for being a person in pain, or the President calling Kanye a jackass. We expect a limited number of modes from people and as soon as we see them in some other kind of role we are jarred and feel uncomfortable. How are we supposed to react to a mode or side of a personality that we don’t usually engage with, some people get outraged, some are apathetic, some people’s support for the mode jumping person is galvanized.

When my friend’s show me their work I’m usually very excited for them and excited to experience it but it usually isn’t something I keep going back to. Maybe it’s just that we are technicians, designers, developers, producers, the behind the scenes people, not pure artists, more like pop artists. Disposable.

I think it’s really more than that though. It has something to do with the nature of the work, but I think it maybe comes down to you wanna talk to your friends and connect with them on a more personal level than their way to mediate and express those emotions to the world that they already feel comfortable expressing in a less mediated way to you personally.

The idea came to me after a light-chat on music theory with James. Check out his interesting blog. Both title and speech were digitally added.

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And if someone has a funny idea and would like me to illustrate it, please feel free to contact me. I have fun doing this.

I’ve always been a Nokia phone user until now, the arrival of my new generation iPhone, and checking out the new ringtones in such close proximity to writing my Scales as Propaganda blog entry made me listen to my options with slightly different ears.  Each phone I’ve upgraded to has had improvements in the quality of sound used for the ringtone, but each new upgraded phone has also had a completely new suite of tiny compositions competing for my approval.

How do these micro-musics reflect the pitch patterns of our day?  A quick analysis of my new iPhone options:

To start with let’s subtract from the 25 standard ringtones the non-pitched or single-pitched options:  ’Bark’, ‘Boing’, ‘Crickets’, ‘Duck’, ‘Motorcycle’, ‘Old Car Horn’, ‘Pinball’, ‘Robot’, and arguably ‘Digital’ which is pitched, but basically just use old-fashioned fax or dialup-style harmonics, ‘Alarm’ which is also a harmonic-derived sound which really only signifies ‘alarm’ in any sonic sense, ‘Timba’ which is a drumming pattern, and finally  the minimalistic ‘Sonar’  which features a single pitch echoed at diminishing dynamic levels. So now we have 13 pitched options remaining.

‘Marimba’ is the default setting, a jaunty major pentatonic theme. ‘Ascending’ is a straightforward chromatic scale. ‘Bell Tower’ uses all the notes of the major scale except the seventh, and there is no suggestion in the melodic construction to suggest that the seventh would be anything other than major.

There are some ring-tones which simply outline a basic interval, such as ‘Doorbell’ (a descending minor 3rd), ‘Trill’ (literally, a trill on a semitone), and ‘Old Phone’, the traditional mid-20th century phone ringing sound, a major 3rd bell tone.

‘Harp’ goes to the effort of outlining a complete minor arpeggio (in root position).

‘Sci Fi’ is a variation on the interval of a semitone and an octave; it ascends a semitone, before dropping to the octave below the opening note and descending a semitone which then slowly bends the pitch a further semitone lower.

‘Time Passing’ is an interestingly contemporary phenomenon: a perfect 5th followed by another perfect 5th a semitone higher before returning to the original pitch.  This tonic/flattened supertonic chord alternation is one I’ve used in my own educational piano music (for instance Cloak and Dagger, currently a Grade 2 examination piece for the Australian Music Examination Board piano syllabus), and is a harmonic shape that was not in common usage until the latter third of the 20th century.

‘Xylophone’ uses the sound first incorporated into popular culture through music of American Beauty, and with its distinctive percussive tone colour, and a theme in the Dorian mode. ‘Strum’ is true to its name, strumming out three chords: a tonic major chord, a subdominant major chord, and finally a tonic major 7th chord, distinctively voiced to suit performance on an acoustic guitar .

‘Piano Riff’ is exactly that, a simple and tiny riff played on the piano that could have come from any number of blues influenced popular songs from the past 40 or 50 years.  Acciaccature, or crushed notes(depending on which language you choose to label your ornamentations) are a significant musical feature of this ringtone, which moves from the tonic to the subdominant and then back again via a harmonically ambiguous third (is this riff in a minor or a major tonality?).

Finally, ‘Blues’ outlines what is classically known as a dominant seventh chord, or the tonic 7th chord if you are working in a Mixolydian mode, along with some melodic ornamentation, which in fact creates an interesting an label-less scale… If we work from a major scale and make alterations we can describe this scale as having a raised 2nd, a raised 4th and a flattened 7th.  Another way of looking at this scale is as a harmonic minor scale with a flattened 5th (creating a diminished, rather than minor, tonic), starting on the 6th degree. (A bit complicated when you first think about it, especially if you’ve never thought about any scales beyond major and minor before).  I think this scale is the closest a 7-note pitch pattern can get to the melodic language of the blues (the both laughable and lamentable so-called blues scale being desperately wide of the mark), bearing in mind that the fundamental harmonic language of the blues is that of the mixolydian mode.

In all, these ringtones do express an interesting harmonic cross-section of contemporary musical language. But is this harmonic cross-section in any way significant?  And how do these 2009 iPhone ringtones compare to the standard ringtones in my 2007 Nokia N95?  Watch this space….

The only thing more exciting than the autumn/winter issue of French is the autumn/winter issue of French with Ford Models’ Lakshmi and Nika.

Retro is a term used to describe, denote or classify culturally outdated or aged trends, modes, or fashions, from the overall postmodern past, but have since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of “retro” style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc. has occurred from around the time of the industrial revolution to present day. (Font: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retro)

©2008-2009 ~CitronRouge

©2008-2009 ~mathiole

©2008-2009 ~Krapivka2007

©2008-2009 *cosmicsoda

©2008-2009 ~JoGraetz

©2008-2009 *julkusiowa

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Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

©2009 ~rockmyworld2

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License.

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©2009 ~My-kantasy

GH1 Modes, originally uploaded by Eric Jeschke.

Key: R20090912-144246-annotated

See the mode control dial there?

I count 8 (eight) clicks that are wasted.

I’d love to have a firmware option to make those 8 click stops each a custom mode. Including the “CUST” mode position, we’d now have 9 custom modes available at the turn of the main dial.

How about it, Panasonic?

(Photoshop.VN) – Moxy is the September 2009 release from RocketTheme. The theme balances both a simple and complex design, from the inclusion of stunning header styles, complimented by conservatively styled mainbody areas.

Source: Moxy – September 2009 Joomla Template

(Photoshop.VN) – Desktop wallpapers can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. However, if you use some specific wallpaper for a long period of time, it becomes harder to draw inspiration out of it. That’s why we have decided to supply you with smashing wallpapers over 12 months.<span class="Apple-style-span" style=”color: rgb(30, 30, 30); line-height: 19px; “>
<h1 class="title" style=”font-size: 44px; font: normal normal normal 44px/normal Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; “> 

<div class="topic" style=”font-size: 12px; width: 623px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 16px; padding-left: 0px; “>

This post features 50 free desktop wallpapers, created by designers across the globe. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free.

Please notice:

• all images can be clicked and lead to the preview of the wallpaper;
• you can <a href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/19/desktop-wallpaper-calendar-join-in/" style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 64, 182); text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold; “>feature your work in our magazine by taking part in our desktop wallpaper calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing magazine. Are you one of them?

So what wallpapers have we received for September 2009?

<div style="font-size: 12px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-top-style: dashed; border-right-style: dashed; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-left-style: dashed; border-top-color: rgb(178, 178, 178); border-right-color: rgb(178, 178, 178); border-bottom-color: rgb(178, 178, 178); border-left-color: rgb(178, 178, 178); margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 5px; width: 510px; “>

<a href="http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/05/the-smashing-book-pre-order-now-and-save-20/?utm_source=Smashing%2BMagazine&utm_medium=editorialbox&utm_content=editorialbox%2Btop&utm_campaign=Smashing%2BBook" style="font-size: 12px; color: rgb(0, 64, 182); text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold; “><img title="Learn more about the Smashing book!” alt=”Learn more about the Smashing book!” src=”http://media2.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/images/fresh-beautiful-fonts/small-book.jpg” width=”75″ height=”74″ original=”http://media2.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/images/fresh-beautiful-fonts/small-book.jpg” style=”font-size: 12px; display: inline; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; text-decoration: underline; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ” />

<p style="font-size: 12px; margin-top: 8px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; line-height: 1.72em; “>Want to learn more about css coding and web design? Take a look at our upcoming Smashing book ($23.90 $29.90, available worldwide). Pre-order now with 20% discount!

Snow Leopard

“The new version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, has just been released, so I wanted to celebrate it with new artwork. In some way, I designed it in contrary to the OS box design, which is a bit too aggressive. Well, mine is a bit too ’sweet’ probably ” Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Irkutsk, Russia.

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• with calendar: 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×800, 1280×960,1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, 1920×1440,2560×1600

Colors of Autumn

“Illustration presenting the beginning of autumn.” Designed by Berenika Kolaczynska from Poland.

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Little Paris

“This was fun to play around with.Hope you guys like it.It shows the city center of Bucharest, Romania in the golden era of the city.Back then itwas called “The little Paris”.The image is part of an existing calendar ilustrating the old Bucharest in different times of the year.” Designed by Ilie Vlad from Romania.

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V for Vendetta

“This wallpaper was inspired by the movie V for vendetta (one of my favourites), the quote is from a very dramatic part of the movie where V kills one of the characters after having said the line(hence the blood).” Designed by Luka Dadiani from UK.

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Caballito

“Ride a small sea horse and find the depth of your own ocean.” Designed by pampaneo from Spain.

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Prelude

“An experiment with photo manipulation and digital collage techniques. (Many thanks to&nbspandthat provide free high quality images for mixing and alteration. Also, thanks to for the free script font, Porcelain).” Designed by S. Beehler from Canada.

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Sunset Supervisor

“My wallpaper is an illustration of the Sunset Supervisor, Jack the Gecko and the White Elephant on an expedition through the desert of time.” Designed by Manuel Esposito from Germany.

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Centuries

Designed by Valentin Bojilov.

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Where Acorns Come from

“Acorns coming to life in September.” Designed by Monica Corduneanu from Romania.

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• without calendar: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×800,1280×960, 1280×1024, 1400×1050, 1440×900, 1600×1200, 1680×1050,1920×1200, 1920×1440, 2560×1600

Queen

“Forest in Autumn.” Designed by Jana Jelovac from Serbia.

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Sticking Art

“The idea behind my wallpapers is ‘Smashing magazine’ with it’s amazingway of taking art from every place around the world and putting it infront – it is the way I thank you for everything you do.” Designed by Catalin Boroi from Romania.

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Upside Down World map

Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Irkutsk, Russia.

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Dussehra

“Dussehra is a very famous festival of hindu people. On this holy day lord ram killed dashanan (rawan). So it is a holy religious day and celebrated as the victory of truth and goodness over bad people. On this day, effigies of Ravana, Kumbhakaran and Meghanad are stuffed with firecrackers and set alight.” Designed by Supriya Kunal Dcunha from India.

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Illustration Talk Like a Pirate Day

“A little illustration for the month of the International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Designed by Leo Lemes from Brasil.

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Shattered

“September marks the beginning of autumn and this wallpaper design is a geometric depiction of dead leaves falling from trees.” Designed by Franz Jeitz from Luxembourg.

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The Jam Factory

“The tastiest jam is being freshly prepared in the sky.” Designed by Chris Alexander (Yipori)from England.

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Glowing grunge

Designed by Sebastian Gonzalez from USA.

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Potato Pirates

“September being the national “potato month”, and having the international”talk like a pirate day” on the 19th, inspired us at gelattina to create a wallpaper, celebrating these two things.. that’s why we have Mr. Potato Pirate and his crew!! ARGGH…” Designed by Débora Márquez from gelattina, México.

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Neon House Spirit

“This deserted house needs some magic to return for life… so i send him a little bit of neon spirit light, maybe after it will recover his past life…and you some inspiration!” Designed by Dovi Vauskfrom Lithuania (resident Spain).

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Music

“This is a little wallpaper I did according to abduzeedo’s supercool frilly bits typography tutorial of course i changed a lot of details so as to make it look different. The wallpaper itself has one simple word “Music” why? Because I love music I think u can get the hidden meaning yourself. ” Designed by Luka Dadiani from UK.

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Last Melitea

“Just another thought to the summer… September will bring a lot of nostalgia ;(” Designed by m-mstudio from Italy.

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Chicken Sunrise

“”The Inspiration for this Calender is the city of Mumbai itself. The city which usually never sleeps, but gets buzzing right in the early hours!I shot this picture of the hen, who was probably laying her eggs, but looks lost and sleepy in her thoughts! The graphic represents the hustle-bustle of Mumbai, represented by itstwo most common (and cheap) modes of transport- the three wheelers and the vintage FIAT taxi’s! Its Chaotic, Its Grungy, Its loud and Buzzing, but like thischaos has its own symphony which unfolds in front of you everyday!”A little bit about me – I’m Principal – Design at Pineapple Consulting ( www.pineappleconsulting.biz ), we deal into areas like branding and communication design, Product and packagingdesign, and interaction design! Located in Mumbai, India, I’m looking to meet some interesting people and projects from across the world!” Designed by Ameet Mehta from India..

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S for September

“I made this wallpaper because I am a big fan of Typography especially the Old English type, I drew the S myself and then scanned it in and made a wallpaper, I hope you will like it, let me know what u think.” Designed by Luka Dadiani from UK.

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Brown September

Designed by Barney from Slovakia.

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First Fog

“This is the day the first fog came to this valley after a hot summer. The castle is preparing for the autumn. My first contribution to Smashing Magazine, feels really good though I didn’t have much timeto work on this one. Thanks for the inpsiration and the best online magazine ever!” Designed by Akif Top from Sweden.

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Field of Gold

“Ready to start again after vacation? Take a deep breath! If you use an unsupported resolution and would like a version please send me an email: I’ll do my best to create it.” Designed byFederica Sibella from Italy.

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Darkness with Rays of Light

“Here comes another September filled with equal darkness and rays of light. The darkness and light flows in circles. The birds are tweeting to welcome the spring. The colorful lights are all around.Blessed are us for this is a transformation of energy. That will return three-fold back!” Designed by Puneeta Prakash from India.

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Circles

Designed by Hector Ruiz Gonzales from Peru.

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Curiosity and the Rose

“Alaskan Malamute Dog and red Rose, This work is dedicated to the Public Domain. You may use this photo for any purpose, including commercial.” Designed by Photos8.com from USA.

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The Blessed Night of Al-Qadr

“The first day of September 09 will be the 11th day of the Holy month of Ramadan in the Hijri calendar. The month of Ramadan is a very special month for the entire Muslim nation. Muslims are supposed to fast this holy month. Fasting is from first light of dawn until sundown, abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations. On the moral, behavioral side, one must abstain from lying, malicious gossip, quarrelling and trivial nonsense. Fasting is a great act of worship for the Muslim which he performs by neglecting his desires to please his Lord and hopes for His Reward. The last 10 days of Ramadan have special virtues. Among the unique virtues of these special nights is that Laylat al-Qadr (the night of veneration or honor) is among them. It is the night on which the Quran was sent down. God described it as being blessed and better than a thousand months. He forgives the previous sins of the one who stays up and prays during this night out of faith and in hope of earning the reward from Him.” Designed by Ahmed Hassan Alley from Egypt.

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Walking

Designed by Pedro Quesada from Spain.

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Smashing September

“A type-based wallpaper celebrating Smashing’s September set of wallpapers!” Designed byJustin Zalewski Design from USA.

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The Gift of The Nile

“The Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote that ‘Egypt was the gift of the Nile’, and in a sense that is correct. Without the waters of the Nile River for irrigation, Egyptian civilization would probably have been short-lived. The Nile provided the elements that make a vigorous civilization, and contributed much to its lasting three thousand years.” Designed by Mahmoud Ahmed Hamamfrom Egypt.

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Zommmbie Girl

Designed by John Kichote from Poland.

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Coils

“September, the time when most of the worlds students go back to school after the summer holidays, something to cheer them up.” Designed by Aleksey from Australia.

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Septypo

“Best month in the Year. Elegant Helvetica typography.” Designed by Dannci from Slovakia.

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Breathe

Designed by Misty Michelle from USA.

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Dogtember

“Dedicated to all doggies missing their masters” Designed by Inna Dekhtiar from Ukraine.

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Bye Bye Beach

“The photo was taken at Sidmouth (England) this summer. The arm is a friend who posed in other photos.” Designed by Jesús Ludeña from Guadalajara, Spain.

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September colors

“”September colors” wallpaper is based around colourful starting and peaceful endings. Most people think that the most favourable color for the month of September is purple but I refuse to agree. So i created this wallpaper with some mix feelings.” Designed by DKumar M. from USA.

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September

“There are many remarkable events in september which make this month importantfor everyone.Some countries celebrate their independence day in it and some nations ascribe its daysfor remembering their heros. 11 September brings sad memories thus many good and bad belong tothis month. It also brings a special day (birthday) for me. Through this typographic wallpaper I try toexpose the value of september.” Designed by NarjisNaqvi from Pakistan.

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Autumn Green

“Autumn starts on or around 15 September in solar term. September begins on the same day of the week as December every year. September’s birthstone is the ‘sapphire’ which means clear thinking. The birthflowers for this month are the ‘forget-me-not’, and ‘aster’. ” Designed by Sagarfrom Bangladesh.

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Tea anyone?

“In September the weather gets cold and it starts raining very often, here in Germany. A nice way to keep yourself warm is a delicious cup of tea. I designed a clean wallpaper with some nice typography-elements and a warm cup of tea to express all that.” Designed by Jens Thamm from Germany.

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September Sentense

“Just motivating sentence for September ” Designed by Temeshi from Poland.

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A Geometric Vision

“This months wallpaper is inspired by the work of Andy Gilmore with the colours swatch based on the Blade Runner (final cut) DVD cover. The font is called Neighbourhood by Andy Chung” Designed by Paul Randall from England.

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Rusting Beauty

“Old Changi Hospital in Singapore is a favourite amongst thrill-seekers and photographers for spine-chilling and paranormal experience. Served its purpose during WWII, decades of desolation brought the all-too familiar forlorn spookiness which abandoned architecture tends to present. Hopefully HDR techniques can bring out the rusting beauty in them.” Designed by Wong Kuo Tsung Jordan from Singapore.

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Hang In There

“Things are always changing – hang in there: it’ll be alright.” Designed by Marlaine weber from Canada.

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Existence

“Through thought and madness the gods of ages past dwell in eternal etherial lands, where time is lost and insight gained.” Designed by Daniel Whyte from new Zealand.

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Full Moon Dancing

“Just the imagination of the full moon dancing,inspired by the music album named “Buddha Moon”, produced by Chinmaya Dunster.” Designed by Smalllotus from China.

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Dream

Designed by Carolina Araujo from Brasil.

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September Song

“A dark visualization of “September Song”, a song composed 70 years ago by K. Weill and M.Anderson, recorded by many music monsters (Frank Sinatra, Sara Vaughan, James Brown,Willie Nelson, Lou Reed)… and printed on the background of this wallpaper.” Designed by Daniele Marino from Italy.

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Retro Fall

“Simple and minimalistic wallpaper with a retro feel based on my analog photographs from Tokyo.” Designed by Adrian Tomic from Sweden.

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Source: Desktop Wallpaper Calendars For September 2009

Starting to work on Horace Silver’s ‘ Song for my father’, going to  document for myself how I am approaching the chords.The son is the title track of his 1964 album, and is a boss nova in an AAB format.

The song is in the key of Fminor, which is the relative minor of AbMajor.There are only four chords to this song, so it is a good one for a newbie like myself!

Approach One: Modes/ altered notes

1) Fminor

I am treating this as the VI chord in AbMaj, so over this chord F Aeolian works well.

F – G – Ab- Bb – C – Eb – F

Sticking in the 6th (D) makes this sound interesting and can make it sound quite jazzy. Other notes I emphasize are Eb(7th) and G (9th) of minor respectively.

2) Eb9
Eb9 is the dominant for AbMaj, so on this chord I am using Eb Mixolydian (Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Db). Over this chord it worth emphasizing the 9th (F), 7th (Db) and the #4/b5, which is A.

3) Db9

Being the fourth chord in AbMaj this calls for Db Lydian. This will work fine apart from the C in Ab, so it is worth making placing improtance on B natural, the 7th of the chord.

4) C7#9

This is where using the modes of AbMaj do not quite work. C7 is essentially the dominant for Fminor and what works for me is a Mixolydian b2:

C Db Eb F G Ab Bb C.

The flatened 2nd gives it for me a harmonic minor feel. Sticking in an E as an apporach note sounds pretty neat too.

Approach Two: Triads

Triads are fundamental to music, yet as guitarists it is easy to forget about them and concnetrate on scales and arrpegios.  So, in this instance we are using the triad based on chords I-VII in AbMaj. Here they are:

I: Ab – C – Eb

II: Bb- Db- F (remember minoro third)

III: C – Eb – G

IV: Db – F – Ab

V: Eb – G – Bb

VI: F- Ab – C – Works well over AbMaj, essentially creating AbMaj6.

VII: G- Bb- Db – This one works well over the dominant chord in Ab, as if you were to add an Eb you would be spelling out the notes for Eb7.

To help integrate these into my playing I am going to start playing them all over the neck, starting intially on the root note. There are so many possibilites, and it goes to show that there is always somethign to play depsite the fact all often run out of ideas!

The game that much like the film has returned Batman’s title of the dark knight, the much feared vigilante that prowls the night hunting the criminals of Gotham city. This game delivers a true to character portrait of Batman including the bat mobile, gadgets, a gliding cape and of course kick ass martial arts.

The game begins with Batman racing his way through the streets of Gotham before reaching the High security psychiatric prison known as Arkham Asylum. shortly after you arrive control is given to you and you make your way through the asylum. It’s not long before Joker makes his move and breaks free from the guards taking him into the depths of the asylum, aided by his lovely assistant Harley. The story progresses steadily from here and I have to say I really enjoyed the game,  the combat system is described as innovative on the box but to be honest it seems to be a run of the mill combat system. It has your strike, stun and counter attack all with their own unchallenging method of pulling off your finishing moves. Beating down a variety of bad guys can be entertaining and as your gadgetry grows with your upgrades, you can also purchase new finishing moves adding to the combat experience. This helps to prevent the game from becoming too repetitive and as you make your way through the asylum the thugs get new weapons and attack methods keeping you on your toes. alone nobody is really a challenge but in groups you can find yourself mashing buttons trying to strike, counter and throw your baterangs all at once.

On the other hand you also get a predator style approach to taking out your enemies where you’ll need to remain hidden and stay silent as you try to take out an entire room. This is much more fun than it sounds as each time you take out a guard then return to hiding you can hear them running around in the darkness terrified they’ll be next. All the while you watch from the darkness or high in the roof.  The predator mode of picking off your enemies has a whole variety of gadgets to itself as well as a selection of silent and dramatic takedowns such as the smashing through a roof method and of course the infamous glide kick. The detective mode activates Batman’s high tech vision which allows you to see enemies through walls and points of interest around the room such as collapsible walls and places to hide giving you the extra advantage.

The game was a lot more in-depth than I had thought it would be as well as having the main storyline of Arkham asylum Edward Nigma aka the riddler contacts you and presents you a challenge. The challenge is one of those annoying find and seek type challenges that also requires the solving of riddles in each new location you enter. The good thing about this however is that you can find out more about Batman than just running through the asylum on the main story. This gives a pretty detailed look at most of Batman’s enemies that are deepened with the discoveries of interview tapes from the asylum, some of which being pretty disturbing themselves and as if that wasn’t enough there is a big mystery to be uncovered in the asylum.

The game is perfect for hardcore comic book fans and any casual gamer looking for a good interesting game to play. The creators managed to achieve a beautiful mix of both comic book story telling and cinematic look to the game. The graphics are ore than a little impressive and the design of the asylum is perfectly dark and sometimes twisted to really help reflect the inmates that inhabit it. Arkham is a pretty big facility and you’ll definitely visit the same locations more than once, especially if you’re out for the riddlers riddles. Some may see this as a bad thing some may see it as a good I personally thought it was a good touch by the creators as each time you return somewhere you can find it more enthralled in the madness of the joker and the other psycho’s he let loose changing it more each time you see it, so enjoy the view while it lasts.

Arkham is choc a block of crazies and bad guys waiting for some Batman branded punishment and it’s more than enjoyable to deal it out. The gadgets and toys Batman uses also make it more interesting to travel as you’re walking one minute grappling the next and finishing with a glide to the floor. The storyline is interesting enough to keep you wanting to play through the game and with a dose of scarecrows fear gas the game takes a few interesting looks into the mind of Bruce Wayne. The game play is smooth and easy to enjoy. The controls are simple enough and it doesn’t take long to master the finer points of Batman’s combat techniques. All in all just playing through Batman shouldn’t be too hard to get a grip of so if it’s a challenging game you’re looking for it falls down a little there. The game boasts a host of interesting bosses to fight all of whom old enemies of the Batman himself.

All in all Arkham Asylum is an amazing game that has something to give any gamer hardcore or otherwise. The time spent on the game is obvious in every aspect whether it be design, game play or graphics. If you take the time to do the riddler challenges this only heightens the games enjoyment by helping you feel more like the detective that Batman is known as instead of just the vigilante. Not to mention with each puzzle solved you unlock another character bio or interesting fact about the Batman comics helping you to appreciate the character a little more. The way all these aspects of his past are put into the game also makes it enjoyable to seek them out. The only real disadvantages of the game is that it can get a little repetitive as each progression is usually you finding someone or tracking them down which isn’t as exciting as it sounds. also at the end of the game you get free run of the asylum but without anyone to fight or any puzzles to solve it begs the question what exactly is the point?

The challenge modes feature just combat or predator based challenges to achieve points to be compared on the world leader boards. These challenges usually come with specific goals which can help to make playing them more fun but they would probably get boring after a couple of plays. All in all I give the game an impressive 9 out of 10 and if you really spend the time  to enjoy the game I know you would agree. So get out there and put on your cape it’s time to fulfil your childhood dreams in the most true to character game yet.

(Photoshop.VN) – Nexus is the August 2009 release from RocketTheme. Its primary focus is that of style control, allowing for quick, simple and wide reaching changes of the theme’s styling with a few template parameter toggles. Also sporting a recoded layout, perfectly catered for search engine optimisation.

Source: Nexus – August 2009 Joomla Template

(Photoshop.VN) – Nexus is the August 2009 release from RocketTheme. Its primary focus is that of style control, allowing for quick, simple and wide reaching changes of the theme’s styling with a few template parameter toggles. Also sporting a recoded layout, perfectly catered for search engine optimisation. Live Demo

    http://rapidshare.com/files/269717928/rt_nexus_j15_v1.52.zip

    http://depositfiles.com/files/u5bs7dd9j

    http://www.megaupload.com/?d=B1ZAK0VL

    http://megaupper.com/files/R0FHKYFN/rt_nexus_j15_v1.52.zip

    http://hotfile.com/dl/10589450/6725c80/rt_nexus_j15_v1.52.zip.html

    http://www.mirrorvip.com/files/A2LYQLJI/rt_nexus_j15_v1.52.zip

Source: Nexus – August 2009 Joomla Template

(Photoshop.VN) – Don’t miss any article. Subscribe to RSS feed, or follow us in Twitter

We know we can always count on the Internet for free quality icons, but that being said, free icons sometimes might have it’s limitation too. Here’s few we can quickly think of:

Don’t miss any article. Subscribe to RSS feed, or follow us in Twitter

We know we can always count on the Internet for free quality icons, but that being said, free icons sometimes might have it’s limitation too. Here’s few we can quickly think of:

• Copyright. Most free icons restricts usage on non-commercial product/website only.
• Size. Don’t you just hate it when you found your favorite icon but it’s only a 32×32 and you wish they have a bigger version?
• Colors. You found the exact icon you want, but the color is just not right.
• Transparency. Some author did not distribute their free icon in .PNG or original source. That makes it hard to implement their icons on our design.

Creating your own icon not only overcome above mentioned problem, at the same time you gain and brush up your photoshop skills. Nothing beats the satisfaction of creating things on your own. We’ve crawled the net, searching from sites to sites and here’s a 40+ hand-picked photoshop tutorials that guide you through icon designing. Have fun.

You might also be interested in these following photoshop articles we’ve previously published.

• Nicest photoshop Photo Effects
• web Interface design Tutorials
• Best photoshop text Effect Tutorials

Full content after jump.

 

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Adobe photoshop CS3 Icon

How to quickly make a slightly altered looking Adobe CS3 Icon.

Angry Emoticon

Learn about special effects while converting an ordinary orb into a fantasy art piece.

Create a Glossy home Icon

Learn how to design your very own glossy home icon in Photoshop

Perfect Shine button or Icon

How to create a cool looking button or an icon to suit your need.

Create a High-Gloss Graduation Hat Icon Design

How to make a professional, shiny, clean graduation hat icon.

Create a Jaguar style Folder Icon

How to cover an object in a Jaguar style fur texture.

Create A Mockingly Smiley

Simple way to create a glossy mockingly smiley in Photoshop.

Create a Shiny Lock Icon Design

Wherever you wish to place a lock icon, this tutorial will show you how to create an attractive one for you to use!

Create Icons tutorial

Create a glossy looking icons.

Creating a Cool Yellow Helmet Icon

Create a helcom icon from photograph.

Creating an XP style Monitor Icon

Create a simple monitor icon in that style.

Design a Glossy Download Icon

You want the graphic to be eye-catching, yet smooth and small enough so it doesn’t dominate your layout. This tutorial will teach you how to create a graphic that does just that.

iTunes Icon in iPhone

This tutorial will show you how to effectively create the iTunes icon found on all iPhones and iPod Touches.

Draw magnifying glass

Learn how to create magnifying glass, which you can use it as button or as icon

Vista Aero Thumbnail Icon

Create the glossy border around most of Vista’s icons.

World Icon Tutorial

Create world icon in Photoshop.

Glossy RSS icon

In this tutorial we are going to create a colorful RSS icon for your blog.

Glowing Orb With Dial

Experimenting with layers and styles to create a cool glowing orb and dial effect.

Home Icon

In this tutorial, you will learn to create a home icon.

How to Make a Folder Icon

Learn how to create a nice folder for your desktop or a website.

Illustrate a Traffic Cone Icon in Photoshop

Drawing a traffic cone, another handy icon for “under construction”

iTunes Icon

The challange of this tutorial is to use various Blending modes and blending techniques to replicate the iTune icon.

Mac Os X Mail Icon Style

Learn how to make the Mac OS X Mail’s icon in a easy way.

Making a Photoshop Shield!

Use the Path Tools in Photoshop to draw a shield-like shape.

Designing a Safety Icon

Design safety icon in Photoshop.

Pyramid Icon Design

How to use your pen tool to create a simple and easy triangular icon design that can be used as your logo or a bulletin.

Custom RSS Feed Icons

Two ways to make your Feed Icons custom.

Photoshop Video Game Mario Icon

How to Create Photoshop Video Game Mario Icon.

Recreate the Famous Yahoo! Smiley

How to recreate the famous Yahoo! smiley face.

Skype Buddy Icon

Learn to draw skype buddy icon with this tutorial.

Skype Logo

Learn how to create in easy steps logo for Skype.

Stylish search Icon

Learn how to design a professional stylish search icon.

QuickTime Icon

Design Quicktime Icon in Photoshop.

Clock Icon

Create simple clock icon.

Mac Sphere icon

Create Mac Sphere icon.

The Making of an Icon

Insights into the process of making icons.

Creating a clock icon

Yet another clock icon tutorial in Photoshop.

TV Icon

In this tutorial, you will learn to create a tv icon.

Vista Error Icon

How to create Windows Vista icons using a few basic layers, creative layer styles and some web 2.0 gradients.

Vista Firewal Icon

Design a Vista Firewall Icon

XP Style Woman Icon

Learn to draw a xp style woman icon.

Source: 40+ Hand-picked Photoshop Icon Designs [Photoshop Tutorials]

Ganador de un Oscar póstumo por su interpretación de The Joker en The Dark Knight (2008); el fallecido Heath Ledger había trabajado meses anteriores a su muerte en un cortometraje animado, el cual fue estrenado en MySpace.com recientemente, añade TheHoustonChronicle.com.

El video dirigido por Ledger se uso para el grupo indie Modest Mouse y su canción “King Rat”, donde Heath fungió como director de este corto de cinco minutos.  El actor intentó plasmar un mensaje de conciencia social sobre la caza desmedida de ballenas, publica EOnline.com.  

La muerte inesperada de Ledger provocó que el audiovisual quedara inconcluso, sin embargo, eso no imposibilitó que se concluyera el trabajo. El video será vendido en iTunes Store a partir del próximo siete de agosto y sus ganancias serán destinadas Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, organización encargada de preservar la vida marina, dio a conocer la BBC.

Esta no es la primera vez que el desaparecido actor australiano dirigió un clip musical, anteriormente lo hizo en dos ocasiones con el rapero N´Fa, indica TheDailyTelegraph.com.au.

 Relacionadas:
Escucha: El coro PS22 transforma éxitos musicales en melodías escolares
Escucha: For Orchestra convierte música pop en clásica

Released On: July 5, 2009

Development Time: 6 months

Genre: Puzzle/Platform

Info: A very strange and very random puzzle-platform game. Features over 15 levels, a level editor with a very robust set of features, fun bonus modes, a cool boss stage, and much more! The game is bigger and better than the first Psycho in every way, including much longer gameplay length and improved graphics.

Download: http://www.box.net/shared/mkze1sl67l - 15.1 mb

Update Notices: July 27, 2009: Fixed a loading bug that only affected certain countries.

Feedback:

“Very cute. had a good time with it.” – Kayin (on Game Jolt, designer of the very popular game “I Wanna Be the Guy”)

“Nice game. Had a lot of good puzzles in it (my favorite being “This Hurts”; that was ingenious), with a style I’ve seen lacking in a lot of psycho-platformers.” – Snail (on Game Jolt)

“Very interesting: enjoyable idea, spot on execution.” – bicilotti (on Game Jolt)

“Great game, I enjoyed the original experience. The game has a nice length – perfect for its targeted style. The graphics have also improved since the first game.” – Andy (on YoYo Games)

(Photoshop.VN) – Hi. KillianDB here, with my very first tutorial. In this tutorial I will learn you how to make a beautiful design from just a photo. The images in this tutorials are ALL thumbnails, so to see the images in high quality, please click them. This tutorial is not for just started beginners in Photoshop. It is recommended that you know the basics first. This is the outcome:

Step 1 – Setup

First you find a photo of some hot chick. It’s preferred that the top of her body is perfect and fits the image size well. I found a very nice photo at a site for pictures of models called Skins.be. Open it in Photoshop, change the image size if you like. For the final result i used a 16:9 (wide screen) comparison. Why? Because I like it! This is the original file:

Step 2 – Gradient(s)

Now lets start off with the gradients. You’re about to insert 3 gradient maps. Click on the adjustments and insert a first gradient map, the standard green to red (REVERSED) one. Set the blending mode to Color Dodge and the opacity back to 30%. The second one is a blue to orange one with the same settings. Now insert a black to white gradient, but set this layer’s blending mode to Screen and the opacity just to 30%.

NOTE: You can do very much you want here, just experiment with it for surprising combination.

Now let’s fix her hair and a bit of her body. Insert 3 gradients:
1: Black (0%) – Yellow (50%) –  White (100%)
2: Black (0%) – Magenta (50%) – White (100%)
3: Black (0%) – White (100%)
First press Ctrl+i on the masks of the gradients. This should make the mask empty and the gradients invincible. Now you can start brushing her hair and her body. I prefer to keep the body with little colors and more black/white.

Step 3 – First filling

Create a new empty layer and go ahead to fill the background parts with a dark color (for example dark gray) Make it look nice, screwing around with the blending modes and opacity. Now create another new empty layer. Get you brushes and brush a bit around the edges of her body (also hair). Make the bushed parts look a bit abstract and dynamic by for example erasing a bit at the sides of them. Apply the layer styles that are below this text to it. It should look good and do this again in another new layer, but now use yellowish colors instead of magenta.

Now add some lines. Use the line tool with a maximal width of 2px and preferable with a white color. Also add some big SOFT brushed dots with magenta and yellow colors to the image. It’s time to fill the image up even more. Get your brushes and use them like you’ve never used them ever before. I recommend you use splatter brushes in combination with normal (soft) brushes and other nice brushes. I used the brush pack made by AxeRaider70, available here (NOT FOR COMMERCIAL GOALS!!!).

Step 4 – Changing colors

When you’re done with adding brushes insert a gradient map. The colors are green to red (REVERSED) and set it to overlay and 100%. Delete everything again from the mask and now brush only the darker parts. Create a new layer and get a grey-blue-green-ish colored brush and start brushing the background. Now create another layer and brush some magenta and yellow stuff to fill the image up again. Now go to the channel mixer and change it to:
Output Channel: Red
Red: + 25%
Green: + 0%
Blue: + 112%

Step 5 – Clipping Masks

First of all create a new layer. Press Alt, go to Image -> Apply Image. Now you have 1 layer including your complete image. Create a new layer and place a good visible big dot using your Marquee Tool and Bucket Tool, or just the Brush Tool. Take a soft eraser brush and make it look like the the dot fades away at just 1 side of it. Now change the order of the 2 layers. The dot is supposed to lay underneath the applied image. Right-Click the image layer and click Create Clipping Mask. No difference yet? That’s right. Just move the image layer around a bit. Now you should see clearly difference. You now can brush more dots on the dots layer and see more difference.

Step 6 – The Face

Create 2 layers. One for the eyes and 1 for the mouth. First the eyes: Get a small hard brush and change the color to yellow. Now brush around the eyes and just change the blending mode to Darken. Now for the lips in the other layer fill the parts you want to change with magenta and set the blending mode here to Overlay. Play a little with the Opacity to make it look more realistic.

Step 7 – Finishing touches

Almost done here. First you probably wanna fill the image up again. Do it. If you think it still isn’t good enough, make it better. For this is used the same technique explaint in step 5, with the clipping masks for the thick lines you see. To make the contrast better a good way is to get you Burn Tool and burn the dark shadow-ish parts you’d like to make even darker. Now add a little Photo Filter to it. I used the following settings.
Filter: Warming Filter (81)
Density: 91%
As finishing touch i inserted Level-adjustment, set the black *arrow* underneath the histogram to 19 and kept the rest as it was.

Finally

Damn, a whole lot of work, wasn’t it? But it was worth it I think. I’m pleased if you liked this tutorial!

Source: How to make a Girl Look Pretty