I came across this profile of illustrator Sam Spratt and his work for online tech magazine Gizmodo. Check it out, and while you're there at the Nieman Journalism Lab, here's a related article on how Gizmodo and Gawker have been getting more visual bang for their buck by adding custom illustration to their content budget. In a world full of blinking ads and stock photography, illustration conveys meaning from a uniquely eye-catching perspective.
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Welcome
- Thanks for visiting! I'm Laura Coyle, artist, illustrator and singer.
As an illustrator, I've worked for companies like Target, Hallmark, The Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. My bio, contact info, and portfolio is at: www.coyleart.com
I teach online classes in Adobe Illustrator on ReneePearson.com
My jazz website: www.lauracoylejazz.com
Content © Laura Coyle 2011
- Coyleart on YouTube
My Illustrator video tutorials.
Next time You're at Target...
- Buy Laura Coyle plates and napkins at Target on the party paperware aisle!
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April 2011
April 28, 2011
April 20, 2011
The Birka Jazz album cover archive
This online archive is an inspiring resource for graphic design, photography and illustration all rolled into one. I love jazz album covers, they always seem to be a sign of the times from the golden years of jazz history, exhibiting great photography and adventurous illustration. Check out the Birka Jazz Archive to see what I mean. Lots of designs from labels big and small with covers from noted illustrators David Stone Martin and Jim Flora; designers Saul Bass and photographers like Herman Leonard and W. Eugene Smith.
April 19, 2011
we have a winner!
The winner of the Wacom Bamboo Craft tablet is Anlenna Tolentino, a student from from the Philippines! Congratulations Anlenna!! I hope this new tool inspires your creativity!
April 18, 2011
April 15, 2011
Today is the last day of the Wacom Pen Scrappers contest to win a Bamboo Tablet! To enter, follow this link to the Pen Scrappers Bulletin Board and add a comment on the post about my channel on or before Friday April 15th. Wacom will choose randomly and I'll keep you updated when they announce the winner! Good luck!
And for those who have subscribed to my Coyleart YouTube Channel, thank you! thank you! I can't wait to add more videos and share more Adobe Illustrator tutorials. My thanks, and have a great weekend!
April 14, 2011
my latest illustration e-promo
If you received this in your in-box today and it brought you here... hello! This is the latest e-promo from my rep Kiki Pollard, and you can view the full-size version here. Visit my website, coyleart.com to see more of my illustrations.
April 13, 2011
Photo-Lettering: outline type headlines for Illustrator
I am jumping up and down, I love this so much! My favorite type foundry, House Industries has done something really cool in creating a service at PhotoLettering.com that allows you to type a headline, up to 40 characters, and purchase it a-la-carte for $7. The headline is delivered as vectors, so it's scalable and ready to play with in Adobe Illustrator. A fun and budget-friendly alternative to buying a whole retro, decorative font for your project.
April 12, 2011
Opacity Masking in Illustrator
Ever wonder what those two thumbnails are all about in the Transparency Panel in Illustrator? They're for editing Opacity Masks. To learn more check out the video below:
You can also use Opacity Masking to add texture to an object. In the example below, I took a border I scanned from a Dover clip art book, Live Traced it, and placed a black and white texture on top of it before creating an Opacity Mask from the border and texture. Now the border has a distressed textured effect and I can see through it to the background color below. Here's the border before I added the Opacity Mask:
Here's the border with the texture Opacity Mask:
Watch the video and experiment with it yourself! And check out the other videos on my Coyleart YouTube channel! There's still time to enter the contest to win a Bamboo Tablet on the Wacom Pen Scrappers site
April 05, 2011
Win a Wacom Bamboo Craft Tablet!
To help me celebrate the launch of my Coyleart YouTube channel, Wacom is offering you the chance to win a Bamboo Craft!
Here's how to enter: follow this link to the PenScrappers.com site, you'll see a Bulletin Board post about my YouTube Channel, leave a comment on the post. That's it! Get your comment in - on or before April 15th, 2011 - and you'll be entered to win!
I love this tablet, I use it interchangeably with my Intuos 4, because the touch feature is so nice to have and the pen is great for working in Adobe Illustrator. If you long to get the most out of Illustrator's natural drawing tools like the Pencil, Paintbrush, Blob Brush and Bristle Brush, you'll love the tablet!
So enter to win, and in the meantime check out my Coyleart YouTube Channel to watch my Illustrator tutorials like this one below, that I created for Wacom to demonstrate some of the settings available within Illustrator; Fidelity and Smoothness, that can help you get more out of your drawing. Enjoy! And good luck!
