For years, the Web standards community has talked about the separation of concerns. Separate your CSS from your JavaScript from your HTML. We all do that, right? CSS goes into its own file; JavaScript goes in another; HTML is left by itself, nice and clean. CSS Zen Garden proved that we can alter a design into a myriad of permutations simply by changing the CSS. However, we’ve rarely seen the flip side of this — the side that is more likely to occur in a project: the HTML changes. We modify the HTML and then have to go back and revise any CSS that goes with...

   When most people think of surrealism, they merely think of the bizarre. They think of artwork that somewhat blends the real with the abstract. They do not take into account the movement which sought to unleash the full creative potential of the unconscious mind. This injects a much deeper meaning in to the pieces than what most would think from work often seen as so abstract. While the use of strange, and even at times ridiculous imagery, is employed to counter the more mundane elements of the pieces, it all comes together in such moving and powerful ways. Below...

   Vexel art is very similar to vector art in terms of appearance. It typically features sharp-edged lines and areas of flat color, or smooth gradient fills. The word ‘vexel’ was coined from a combination of “vector” and “pixel”. The main difference between vexel art and vector art is that vexel artwork is rasterized. This means that it’s not scalable, so many vexel artists create their vexels at very high resolutions. Instead of using vector lines, shapes and polygons, vexels are created using a raster programs support for...

   In the following Photoshop tutorial you will learn how to create a semi-realistic MacBook Pro from scratch. First, you will learn how to use the grid and the snap to grid for an easier workflow. We’ll start with some simple vector shapes and several warp techniques along with a bunch of basic tools. Next, we’ll add some color using the Layer Style properties. Finally, we’ll use Layer Masks, Clipping Masks and some discrete Noise to add the final touches for your illustration. Final Image This is the image that we’ll end up with by completing this Photoshop...

   As the icy grip of winter closes in tighter many begin to dream of spring. That time of renewed growth and warmer days that tends to draw us back outside and into nature’s waiting open arms. With the seeming promise from the old groundhog that we will more than likely be seeing a few more weeks of winter, we thought our readers could use a little piece of spring a bit early. So we have prepared an inspiring showcase of not only photographs which highlight the colors of spring, but we’ve also created color palettes from the pics of spring flowers and...

   Whilst Joomla and Drupal are popular amongst website designers, WordPress is by far the number 1 used CMS in the world. Which is one of the reasons that WordPress themes are seen as such a hot commodity these days in the design world. It’s popularity amongst design firms could explain the vast number of premium corporate designs that are available for WordPress. Gone are the days when a corporate template came with nothing more than a basic options page and a contact form. Today’s designs come with beautiful home page sliders, portfolio templates,...

   As the year draws to a close, we tend to take a look back over the year and take stock. This post is here to not only sort of serve that purpose, but to also stock up on some of the year’s top free texture packs from around the web. Knowing how much use the web design community gets from resources like these, we felt like it would close the year in style to showcase some of 2011′s freshest and most useful textures that were released throughout the year. So get your virtual web design toolboxes ready for an extra healthy heaping of these awesome...

   Light painting has always wowed audiences, right from it’s inception in the 1930s. Light painting is a photographic technique, whereby exposures are usually taken at night or in a darkened environment, using a moving light source or by moving the camera. Light painting can create some truly astonishing outcomes, and because it’s a photographic technique, rather than a digital technique the results often appear very natural. In recent years light painting has grown in popularity as a trend. With easy access to professional camera setups many people are...