why is this page here?
i could have simply called this the ‘links’ page, but that sounds so boring and is not quite accurate. instead of a simple list of links, i decided to create a true resource for anyone who might be interested. yes, 99% of what you will find here is indeed links. i do hope that i’m able to pass on the info in a fairly entertaining manner and share with all of you some of the great, possibly lesser-known stuff that’s floating around the web.
below you’ll find information on the creative commons for this site as well as links to some of my favorite resources for photography and design inspiration. on the right i’ve pointed you to some of my favorite ‘web 2.0′ tools and some wonderful free and open source software. finally, on the far right are links to some organizations that do extremely important work on our behalf and on behalf of our animal friends.
okay, go ahead, get on clicking!
creative commons
what is creative commons? well, simply, it’s an alternative to copyright as it exists today. it allows people to share your work with others under certain circumstances. quite often, things under creative commons are referred to as ’some rights reserved’ as opposed to ‘all rights reserved’.
why would someone want to release things under creative commons as opposed to traditional copyright? well, for one thing (and probably the best argument for it) creative commons licensed materials will spread the word about you and your work quickly to a wide audience. by giving people permission to do what they already do behind closed doors (mixtapes, photocopying, torrents) frees them to share with others on a grander scale. your work can actually become worth more than it would with a traditional copyright.
granted, i’m still not sure if everything belongs under the creative commons banner, but i do plan on using it regularly and i think that it’s a great asset to the creative community. for more information, click on the link below.
photoshop/graphic design
before i even begin, let me just say that this portion of the page is a perpetual work in progress. this is just a sampling of the vast array of graphic design and photoshop resources out there. i’ve given you links to some of my all-time favorites.
i’ve been doing design work for about eight years now. when i started, photoshop was on version 5 and the internet was still just pulling itself out from under the dot com bust. one thing that emerged from the dust was a vibrant, growing community of self-taught web designers and photoshop enthusiasts. these artists started sharing resources back and forth and connecting with each other over the net. awesome stuff and when i started, i never dreamed the amazing things that would happen in the industry over the next bunch of years.
over this period of time, websites have come and gone. resources that were there a month ago up and disappear without warning. still, a few stuck it out and have been joined by some new folks looking to improve on the older ways. i try to keep track of them, but thankfully i have lots of help along with way from others who share my enthusiasm. please enjoy the fruits of those labors and don’t forget to credit the artist and respect their copyright!
communities, artists & inspiration
- deviantart.com - probably the biggest community of artists on the web. there is a lot of dreck, but also a plethora of gems. not limited to finished pieces, the community also contributes a wealth of resources for others to use in their own work.
- conceptart.org - here you’ll find a collective of concept artists from the gaming and film industries as well as a bunch of folk just learning. lots of inspiration to be had here.
- john jude palencar - you’ve seen his art on a ton of fantasy novels. there’s some amazing work in his gallery.
- drawer geeks - cartoonists, comic artists and other illustrative types get together and interpret a theme every couple of weeks. the variety of responses is amazing.
- duirwaigh gallery - faeries and the most amazing flash movie i’ve ever seen. beautiful, beautiful stuff here.
stock photo resources
- urban dirty - grungy, messy textures. yum.
- vintage pixels - free and open source for old pictures.
- stockxchng - probably the best source of free stock photos on the web. just remember to watch that copyright!
photoshop brushes
- vbrush’s search engine - kinda old and outdated, but still a great resource.
- brusheezy - the new kid in town. these brushes seem to be of good character.
web design
- real-time html editor - very useful for testing bits of code. as you edit, it displays what your page would look like live.
- htmldog - my absolute favorite, free reference for html and css. if you’re just starting out or simply need to reference a tag, this is the place to go.
- wc3 - the world wide web consortium is the international standards-making body of the web. they’re the ones that decide what everyone is going to be coding with this season. they also have a very nice ’school’ of tutorials for not just html and css, but also javascript, php, and a variety of other esoteric programming languages.
favorite web 2.0 tools
most of these tools are pretty ubiquitous around the interwebs. a few of them are a bit less known, but just as cool.
- del.icio.us - i have over 2500 links and need them at work and at home. if i didn’t use this service, i would be quite lost indeed.
- google - yes, i am an acolyte of the church of google. they’ve created a 500lb gorilla and it makes me happy. i use almost all of their services on a daily basis.
- twitter - the complete opposite of google for me. i don’t use it at all, but i love the idea.
- scrapblog - another tool i don’t use as much as i’d like. build online, digital scrapbook pages with this very nice interface.
- zoho - competitor of google in the online document & organization department. they have a few tools that google lacks (at the moment).
- divshare and box - my favorite filesharing services. i like them both for different reasons. well, if box expanded their size and upload limitations, i would use them exclusively, but for now i use both.
- thinkature - online flowchart! how fun!
- flickr and photobucket - huzzah for pictures! i’ve used photobucket enough to say that it rocks, even if it is a bit tedious. flickr will be much more useful to me once i cough up the $25 for the pro account.
open source/freeware
i love this concept and wish that i could contribute more to the actual development of this software.
- software for starving students - not just for students, this site has links to the homepages of a tremendous variety of the best of the freeware/open source communities.
- winamp - the main reason i’m able to happily use my sansa mp3 player.
- itunes playlist exporter - helps me export m3u playlists for my sansa.
- avg antivirus - do i even need to explain why you need this? the best part is that it’s full antivirus with free updates.
- rockbox - not for the faint of heart, but still cool. did you know you can replace the firmware on your ipod or mp3 player?
- openoffice.org - a free, complete office suite. bu-bye expensive software!
- al zip - i have yet to encounter a file that this utility won’t expand.
- foxit reader - read pdfs without waiting a year and a day for acrobat to open. i know that seems petty, but really, this makes it easier to deal with pdfs.
- nifflas’ games - enough with the utilities. i absolutely love these games. beautiful music and a very meditative gameplay. they’re simple and lovely.
