How To Create a Cartoon-Style Illustration in Photoshop

In this video-tutorial we’re going to show you how to create a cartoon-style illustration of an ax in Photoshop. We will be spending time with layer masks, the pen tool, and Photoshop brushes. We will finally import and apply a vector pattern from Illustrator to Photoshop.

At the end of this tutorial you should be able to easily create your own cartoon-style illustrations of just about any object.

Video transcription, images, and included resources are available after the jump:

Introducing PsDefaults: Better Default Graphics for Adobe Photoshop

It’s been months in the making (still isn’t finished, actually) and we’re finally ready to introduce everyone to a new resource—PsDefaults.

PsDefaults is a complete replacement set of default graphics (also known as presets) for Adobe Photoshop. Forget living with that blue bubbly pattern forever: this new set of presets is entirely hand-crafted, modern, beautiful, and ready to use.

Check out the coming soon page here, or keep reading for timing, cost, and other interesting details.

5 Practical Ways to Replace Images with CSS3

Every web designer and developer should be aware of CSS3 and all of it’s fantastic new properties that make life easier for web professionals. But we may not be truly making the most of the technology that is available to us.

Adobe CS6 Replacement Icons

If you’ve recently upgraded or purchased Adobe CS6 and are a little bit disappointed with the new icons, then this should hopefully be of interest to you. After searching and waiting patiently for some icons to surface that were a little more to my taste than Adobe’s offerings. I finally decided to take the task upon myself, and just open up Photoshop and start designing my own. So here are the results! Feel free to download them and use as you please.

Sketch 2: A Worthy Photoshop Competitor?

Here at MediaLoot we don’t often review software, but as I am somewhat of a dedicated Fireworks fan, and an avid believer that the industry is in dire need of a tool specifically created for professional UI designers, I think that Bohemian Coding’s Sketch 2 deserves a mention.

How To Prepare for The High-Resolution Web

Whether we’re ready or not, the future of the web is going to be in High Definition. However, by following a few simple techniques, you can future-proof your web designs today.

Introducing Rollover Downloads

When it comes to download limits, it has been a long and winding road for us here at MediaLoot.

We started off with unlimited downloads. This didn’t work well (or last long) because people were paying one monthly fee and downloading everything on the site. We couldn’t pay our designers, long-term members were getting shorted, and well… you get the idea.

Following that we launched the multi-plan system we have now with download credits and a set number of downloads you could have each month. This has worked fairly well with one exception: members who didn’t use all of their downloads in one month (which were many) lost those downloads and couldn’t use them again next month. In effect, members were penalized for not using all of their downloads, even if they didn’t need them that month. That’s not what we want to happen…

Now, thanks to your suggestions, we have a big announcement to make: Rollover downloads are here.

Skeuomorphic Design: What it is, Who uses it, and Why You Need to Know

This article looks at some of the most notable examples of the style that Apple is making popular on the iPad in iOS, and weighs up the pros and cons. Is skeuomorphism the future of interface design?

The Birth of the iPhone App Theme

Arguably one of the biggest web-design buzz words from 2011 into 2012 has been the word mobile. Mobile web-design, mobile user interfaces, mobile screen sizes—and mobile apps.

With over 500,000 mobile apps currently in the Apple App Store, apps have officially taken over. These applications have become an undeniable part of our future.

The surprising part of this explosion (from a design perspective) is how few resources are currently out there to help designers and developers make awesome apps. In this article we’re going to take a look at that, and at the birth of a new resource: the iPhone application theme.

FREE Vector Infographic Kit

This week’s freebie is a huge vector set for creating infographics. Included in the package are over 50 elements, ranging from graphs and charts to maps and symbols. Enjoy!