We were so apprehensive when Mr Baxter volunteered to DJ at this year’s RB Christmas Party, we even devised a backup plan should he whip out Bieber’s back catalogue. But it turns out there was no need to spike his drinks, lock him in the stationery cupboard and commandeer the radiogram after all. The man has Soul. Where he’s been hiding it all these years, one can only guess.

So as a thanks to bubblers near and far for keeping us on our toes this year, we’ve raided his vinyl collection and put together ten of “Baxter’s Greatest Hits”. Whether you’re stuffing the turkey, roasting chestnuts by an open fire or ingesting your 15th complimentary sausage roll at the office party, the tracks below are guaranteed to liven up your festive season. We …

If you wanted to demonise a certain well-known fast food brand, you might choose something bleaker than its actual corporate colours before putting brush to canvas – Perhaps change Hunger-Inducing Red for, …hmmm, let’s see, Tortured Innocent Calf Blood. Golden Arch Gold for Smog-Stained Canary. But if you’re Ron English, you’d much prefer to beat the brand up with its own palette. And beat it up, he has. Hundreds of English’s works haunt the global brand in all the glorious colours of its own advertising schedule. Not one of them has you racing out for a triple quarter pounder.

In the global forum on capitalism, English disregards the gentlemanly rules of public debate and effectively drugs the icon of a million- or billion-dollar brand, then photographs it performing unspeakable ac…

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

^{Work by Soxy Fleming}

• Soxy Fleming has been interviewed on the Blarney Books & Art website
• Richard Murch has his book available as an eBook on Amazon.com
• Sherion reminds us that there is one month left to enter the International Street Photography Awards

^{Work by Rookwood Studio}

• Rookwood Studio invites you to the Digitalis Art Magazine Artist Translation Event
• Philip Johnson recommends heading to The National Gallery of Australia to view the Renaissance Exhibition
• Linda Callaghan has had her painting and poetry published in Narrator Magazine

^{Work by Mike Lee}

• Mike Lee shared his new Good Game/Batman Comic in 3D
• Citizen showcases some of her wonderful book co

A good portrait artist does much more than capture someone’s likeness on canvas or paper. The most skilled portrait artists have the ability to create works that draw us in and reveal the sitter’s character and personality. To pay tribute to these truly talented artists, we’ve gathered together a collection of some the most impressive painted and illustrated portraits on RedBubble. Prepare to be wowed.

Faith by modernlifeform

Portrait of Con Conning by Lynda Robinson

Self Portrait 2011 by JolanteHesse

Stefan by marksatchwillart

Day off by Sandrine Pelissier

LISTEN by Brent Schreiber

Paul by Gareth Colliton

Benzaiten by NadiaTurner

Opal by Michael Shapcott

Portrait of Phoebe by Roz McQuillan

Enchantment by Keelan McMorrow

Marisa by Andy Beck

Babysitting by M…

What with Grandmaster Flash’s collection of over 5,000 mugs, the Beastie Boys’ obsession with golf and Alex James’ sideline in cheese making, we shouldn’t really be surprised by this at all. In this clip, unlikely design nerd (and former architecture student) Ice Cube gives us a crash course on The Eames House and LA architecture.

_{Via NME}

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

^{Work by ArtPearl}

• ArtPearl shared her recent awards from the juried exhibition of San Diego Watercolour society
• Darren Stones’ work Red Bluff has been published in the Australia Photo Atlas
• Donna Malone is part of a group show at the Circle Gallery in West End

^{Works by Cathy Gilday}

• Cathy Gilday’s work The Emmission won first prize in the themed competition of the Royal Queensland Art Society
• JeffeeArt4u shared her tips and techniques for painting waterfalls
• Margo Humphries shared information on a cover design competition

^{Work by Anna Lewis}

• Anna Lewis had her work featured on Creative Artists Blog
• Dan Perez’s book First Lady of Burlesque, The

You’d be right in thinking that a man who has taken portraits of some of the world’s most well known faces – including Barack Obama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Muammar Gaddafi, Vladimir Putin, Al Pacino, Sylvester Stallone and Vivienne Westwood – would have a story or two up his sleeve. Platon recently took time out of his busy schedule to share with us his experiences photographing Gaddafi, the stories behind his portraits of protestors in Tahrir square, plus some wonderful advice on finding success in the world of photography and beyond.

Tell us about the dynamic between yourself and the sitter. How do you form a connection or quick bond with your sitter that results in intimate portraits?

Well there’€™s no formula with people, and that’s the difficult bit. E…

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

^{Works by Megan Raphael}

• Megan Raphael has completed her Diploma of Photoimaging
• The flash-fiction group have published their third little black book of very, very short stories
• Sharon Kelley (wildwomenlove) is being interviewed on Poets on Air @ Radio Adelaide

^{Works by Alvaro Sánchez}

• Alvaro Sánchez collaborated with poet Julio Serrano, illustrating the book Actos De Magia
• Lilian Marshall won a Christmas photo competition in her Local Evening Gazette
• Laurast suggests checking out the upcoming Festival of Lights if you’re near Airdrie, Alberta, Canada

^{Work by Marion Chapman}

• Marion Chapman has graduated from the College of Fine Arts with a Master of Art
• ST

The Sketchbook Project is giving 5,000 artists the chance to have their work exhibited in New York City and published in a grand and highly limited edition book. To be a part of the project, all you need to do is register, order a sketchbook, fill it with your own work and send it back by the April 30th, 2012. Once your sketchbook has seen the sights of NYC, it will join thousands of others from projects past and present, as part of a permanent, public collection at the Brooklyn Library.

10 Chances To Win A Free Sketchbook
 

The Sketchbook Project are offering 10 RedBubble artists the chance to win a free sketchbook. To be in the running, all you need to do is head over to Twitter and tweet @arthouse with a link to your latest illustration. Over the next week they’ll pick 10 w…

A campaign for the College for Creative Studies in Detroit has been doing the rounds on Facebook and other social media sites in the past 48 hours. Did you know 1 in 5 teenagers will experiment with art? Too funny not to share …

(Image credits: scaryideas.com. Campaign by: TeamDetroit)

Do you know your ligatures from your tittles, or your ascenders from your terminals? Are you good with grids … and can you kern? We’ve gathered together a collection of 10 great applications and sites for type lovers. Some teach us about typography, others just serve up a generous helping of typographic eye candy. From apps for your iPad to web based kerning games, all are beautifully designed and a few are annoyingly addictive.
 

1. Interactive Typography

Seattle based graphic designer Aaron Bloom has produced a beautifully designed, interactive site, that aims to teach the basics of type anatomy and classification. Interactive Typography is pitched at first year design students, but is a great resource for any designers and artists who are looking for an introduction to …

Long before movie tycoons started using words like ‘franchise’ in relation to their productions, it was well known that the best way to lure your audience into cinemas was to paste the mugs of your leading cast in the middle of your advertising. The bigger the star, the more the appeal. So it must have taken a brave boardroom decision (or a mail room mix-up) for the producers of the 1955 film The Man with the Golden Arm to approve Saul Bass’ revolutionary poster for the film. Bass had pushed aside the visages of Frank Sinatra and Eleanor Parker in favour of a grotesquely bent arm reaching boldly through a higgledy-piggledy font in which the title appeared.

_{Image credit: Wikipedia}

The poster kicked off a revolution in movie poster design (albeit one in which only the boldest of film exe…

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

^{Works by Kerry Thompson}

• Kerry Thompson invites you to the launch of her Little Firefly Gallery on December 2nd
• Anastasiia Kucherenko found a RedBubble mention in The Rough Guide to Digital Photography
• Adara Rosalie unveiled her cover design for the book Boyfriend From Hell

^{Works by Cameron Hampton}

• Cameron Hampton received an Award of Merit at the Degas Pastel Society 17th Membership Exhibition
• Louise Green has been featured in the latest issue of Artist’s Palette magazine
• Karin Taylor has had her song Beauty of You put to music

^{Works by Michelle Morris}

• Michelle Morris will be having her first exhibition at the Mystic Art Gallery
• EmpoweredBeauty has so

RedBubble is home to a huge amount of Science Fiction and Fantasy Art creators and fans so in the lead up to Cyber Monday, we’re hosting an all out, no holds barred battle between the titans of fandom, Sci-fi & Fantasy. Over the next few days, demons, barbarians, wizards, vikings and vampires will face off against time travellers, robots, space cowboys and aliens. And there’s no room for fence sitters!

Pledge your allegiance to your genre of choice by joining the Science Fiction Fan Mob or Fantasy Fan Mob events on our Facebook page and you’ll have the chance to win a mega prize pack, jammed full of art and design based on your favorite genre. Members of both Fan Mobs will receive Cyber Monday discounts and exclusive giveaways, plus the chance to win the ultimate Fa…

Thinking of taking your creative project to the next level but not sure where you’re going to get the funding? In the old days your options may have been limited but now you can take your ideas directly to the masses with sites like Kickstarter.
 

_{Image credit: Kickstarter.com}

Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects that has enabled hundreds of musicians, artists, designers, technologists, film makers, publishers and other creative people to get their projects off the ground. It’s premise is all or nothing funding. You submit your project idea and if accepted, you have up to 60 days to spread the word and appeal for support in the form of pledges. These pledges can range from a few dollars to sums in the thousands, meaning anyone can help make your idea a reality.

_Imag…

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

^{Works by Zeb Shaffer}

• Zeb Shaffer announced the upcoming show he has organised: Rock the Terminal 2011
• Jan Szymczuk shared his step by step tutorial on painting The Cottage
• Mayumi is looking for RedBubble writers to collaborate with

^{Works by Leni Kae}

• Leni Kae’s work Blue Lily Heart will be exhibited at the Barcelona Showcase
• Joe Hupp shared information on the 2nd Annual Macquarie Photography Prize
• Dorit invites you to the Brighton Contemporary Art & Photography Exhibition Launch Party

^{Works by Christina Rodriguez}

• Christina Rodriguez’s artwork has been published in Everything Is Art Magazine and Pink Panther Magazine
• Dinglegallery shared her w

Johnny Kelly is a London based animator who recently managed to successfully merge Willie Nelson, Coldplay, 72 pigs and an astonishing 874 trees into a beautiful animation about sustainable farming for Chipotle, entitled Back To The Start. Johnny studied at The Royal College of Art and has since produced work for clients including Adobe, UN, BMW and Google. We thought we’d pick his brains about making the Chipotle animation, creating music videos, his thoughts on formal training and his advice for RedBubble artists and designers on overcoming creative block.

[Video]

RB: Tell us a little about the Chipotle animation. Who realised the aesthetic choices, the little details, like the roundness of the farmer’s belly or the shape of the pigs?

JK: Ordinarily the client would have quite an …

If you were impressed by Cindy Sherman’s ‘Untitled #96’ selling at Christie’s earlier this year for a record breaking US$3.9 million, then we hope you’re sitting down. Last week, German artist Andreas Gursky’s ‘Rhein II’ sold at Christie’s New York auction for a staggering US$4.3 million, setting a new world record for the sale of an individual photograph.

_{Image Credit: Rhein II by Andreas Gursky}

Gursky has built his name taking multiple exposures of the same scene and painstakingly editing in and out ‘signs of life’ – including people, kites or factory workers. Most of his images question man’s impact on the natural environment, or critique the man-made environments we construct.

Art critic Calvin Tomkins described seeing a Gursky in person: “The first time I saw photog…

RedBubble’s most recent addition the the product menagerie, iPhone cases have proven to be very popular indeed. So we’d like to celebrate this fact by giving you the chance to win an iPhone case of your choice during November. You can get your paws on your favourite design just by hopping over to Twitter and telling us which case you’d like to entrust with protecting your telephonic communicator.

To enter the iPhone Case Giveaway:
 

1. Follow us on Twitter @RedBubble
2. Send a tweet with the hashtag #iPhoneCase and a link to the RedBubble iPhone case you fancy
3. Sit back, relax and wait to see if you’ve won some iPhone case swag
4. Enter as many times as you like throughout November to win
5. For more information, head on over to our official rules

Here are some e…

Lately we’ve seen an increase in the amount of RedBubble artists who are gaining coverage on blogs across the interweb, so we thought it might be handy to whip up a few hints and tips for making your portfolio more enticing and inviting to bloggers. The following advice is based on some of the feedback and discussions we’ve had with a few of the technological wordsmiths who are often keen to grant you a little more exposure. If they happen to drop by your portfolio, these tips will ensure everything is looking ship shape.

Consistency
 

You’re probably familiar with the mantra about only uploading your best work. This is a good example of why we think it’s important. When someone looks at your profile, they’re gaining an impression of whether your work is …

Rest easy, uncross your fingers and cancel the babysitter, the people have sketched, the judges have judged and the cat has come down from the tree. What does any of this mean? We’ve no idea, check with our therapist. But we do know who the four iPhone case illustration design challenge winners are!

In first place, with quite the most incredible translation of the brief, Pete Katsiaounis’ Fox Cub Dream. A magnificent doodle created with only a ball point pen and a dodgy piece of paper. It’s beautiful and elegant and exactly the sort of thing we used to sketch while on the phone, except ours looked a bit more like a spider had walked through some wet ink and less like this splendid thing. Here are some close ups:

The three runners up, in no particular order were Nic…

In need of a little inspiration? We recommend taking three minutes out of your day to watch this breathtaking time lapse video from Dustin Farrell and Crew West. And make sure you view it in full screen mode. Truly amazing stuff.

_{Landscapes: Volume Two by Dustin Farrell}

A.J. Hateley’s series of video game inspired book covers have taken the blogosphere by storm in recent months. Her passion for gaming, combined with a love of literature, has resulted in a series of works that have captured the imaginations of gamers, designers and artists alike. We sat down with A.J. to talk about the inspiration behind the series, how illustration can play an important part in supporting the written word and why the best video games can be compared to great works of literature.

Where did the idea for video game book covers come from?

In visual culture there exists a high/low culture binary. In the scholarly approach, video games are considered as forming part of ‘low’ culture, in opposition to fine art and high aesthetics. Anyone who has played an excellent game,…

Regular readers of the RedBubble blog will know we love a good, meaty process video so when we spotted this beauty on the Grain Edit blog, we knew we had to share it with you. Dan and Nathan, aka DKNG Studios, have been the resident poster artists at the Troubadour Club in West Hollywood since 2007. They’ve produced posters for an enormous list of bands including The Black Keys, Flight of the Conchords, Monsters of Folk, Phish, The National and Iron and Wine. They recently created this beautiful poster for Texas group, Explosions In The Sky and luckily for us, they were generous enough to share the entire process from initial sketches to completion.

_{Image Credit: DKNG Studios}

A big thanks to the inspirational Grain Edit blog for the tip off. If you fancy some eye candy of the graph…

The interweb has been abuzz with news of the release of the Lytro light field camera – a camera that allows you to ‘shoot now and refocus later’. It’s been hailed as the camera most likely to change the way we take and enjoy photographs. How do you think the Lytro will impact upon photography?
 

_{Image Credit: Lytro.com}
 

[Video]
 
Further reading:

1. Lytro: What really makes it revolutionary (cnet)
2. Can Lytro bring light-field cameras to the masses? (optics.org)
3. Doubts About Lytro’s “Focus Later” Camera (TechCrunch)
4. Ren Ng Shares His Photographic Vision: Shoot Now, Focus Later (Wired)

In an impressive demonstration of inventiveness, we’ve noticed some artists have been using the t-shirt template to create loads of tiny stickers within the one design. If you’d like to give this a try yourself, read on for the secret recipe. But first, here are a few you prepared earlier (click on the stickers to see them in all their glory):

Begin by opening the t-shirt template in your chosen graphics program (we’re using Photoshop). To make life as easy as possible, make sure your rulers are set to mm – not pixels, MegaFonzies, milliwheatons or any other unit of measurement. Depending on the software you’re using, these settings should be in your preferences, or in your document setup.

Once your template is set up, you’re read…

Jonas Pfeil’s prototype Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera is a very cool idea. Made from 36 fixed-focus 2 megapixel mobile phone camera modules, it captures a full 360 degree panoramic shot from the highest point when thrown into the air. The image can then be loaded onto your computer and viewed in a program that allows you to zoom in on the finer detail. Jonas and his team are currently looking for an investor or a partner to build the camera and hope it will be available for sale in the future. If you could get your hands on one of these, where would you take it and what would you shoot?

[Video]

_{Images by Jonas Pfeil. Via PetaPixel.}

Holy badgers, three brightly-colored and entirely crazy days and suddenly NYCC 2011 is all over. We have met so many immensely talented artists and incredibly friendly people from all over the place we really can’t wait to do it all over again. The energy and excitement they displayed over all your art and design was epic, everyone was blown away by the work on display. Our booth was constantly packed with admirers and we’ve all lost our voices. Job well done.

One chap who popped by to say hello was Seth Green, he was genuinely astounded by all your work. He knows the Uncommon guys too and loved the new cases and stickers.

Here’s are some of the other colorful people who stopped by..

Seriously good make-up here:


THE SWEDISH CHEF! He got loads of free stuff because he was…

NYCC has begun. Well, almost, technically it opens in about 10 hours but this evening there was a preview for the press and some hardcore fans so we had to have our booth spic ‘n’ span which mainly involved hanging lots of your splendid art everywhere.

It was pretty bare when we turned up a few days ago…

..but that soon changed, here’s a glimpse of what it all looked like tonight in New York…

These people are dancing, in public, without any alcohol…

Our magnificent booth…

Here’s Pilgrim working the public…

And quite to our surprise we found some actual comics…

Lots of comics…

We’re getting some great feedback already and we’re very much looking forward to the weekend and getting to meet a …

This Saturday October 15 is World Toy Camera Day. To the casual observer, the love of inexpensive, plastic cameras like the Holga, Diana, Lubitel and Lomo LC-A may seem like a passing fad but their popularity has been steadily growing over the past 20 years. The following collection pays tribute to plastic lenses, serendipity, light leaks, experimentation and the anticipation of waiting to see what you captured on your roll of film.

Neon Boneyard by Steve Lovegrove

{ dim walkway } by Lucia Fischer

36 Apostles by thescatteredimage

rue des gravilliers, paris by bigudi

The writings on the wall by madworld

time loss #4 by mr. teddybear

serendipity – Holga double exposure by 58glass

Airport, Paris by cykuck

where is wally? by sasufi

London bus 9 Aldwych by Mattias Olsson

I hea…

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Amy-Elyse Neer}

1. Amy-Elyse Neer’s work will be part of an exhibition in San Francisco
2. vtango was interviewed about his long exposure photography
3. ankepanke’s illustration work was published in STIJLmagazine

_{Works by ankepanke}

1. Anastasiia Kucherenko is attending Von Glitshka’s Vector Training in London
2. BenClark embarked upon a challenge to design 31 t-shirts in 31 days
3. Matt Chapman’s work will be exhibited at Brick Lane Gallery, London

_{Works by Matt Chapman}

1. JaninesWorld had a bunch of wins after entering her first photography exhibition
2. Matt Mawson’s work will be part of an exhibition at the Queensland State Library
3. Andrew Jo

There’s nothing we enjoy more than a stroll around the interweb, marvelling at beautiful typefaces. Sometimes you can spend hours searching for the perfect font for a project, so it’s always worth having a few great examples on standby. We thought we’d share a selection of our favorites – some only recently released, and a couple of old faithfuls. We’ve chosen these with poster design and type tees in mind, but you might just find they fit the bill for all sorts of creative projects. And thanks to the generosity of some talented type designers, they’re free for commercial use. Enjoy!

RBNo2 by Rene Bieder (View Licence)

Lobster by Pablo Impallari (Further Info). Lobster has actually been around for a little while but a recent update Lobster Two is hot …

Hot on the heels of Photographic Prints, we bring you news of another addition to RedBubble’s product menagerie – iPhone cases. There are two important facts about our iPhone cases. Firstly, they are extremely tough and secondly, the graphic is there for life. We know this because we’re having them made by Uncommon. Uncommon are an industry leader in making high quality, durable iPhone cases. They’re one of the few brands chosen for Apple Stores and they invented a printing process called TATT™ which embeds the design into the case. This means they’ll never fade or peel. There’s every possibility archaeologists will be digging these babies up in 3050 with your designs still intact.
 

_{Above: Eddard Stark. Lord of Winterfell, Paramount and Warden of t}…

A number of weeks ago we set you the task of creating a brand new, highly original comic book character to be shown off and given away as a limited edition t-shirt at RedBubble’s booth at this year’s New York Comic Con. And you answered the call in true RedBubble style – with plenty of designs featuring skin tight lycra and an unhealthy amount of lethal weaponry. And so the time has come to announce the winners of the New York Comic Con Challenge.
 
In First Place: We couldn’t agree more with this choice for first place. As voted by the community and selected by the judges, our overall winner is The Colonel by Steven Austin. Congratulations Steven! As we speak, The Colonel is being transported to a high security location where he’ll be transformed into a …

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Zomboy}

1. Zomboy was interviewed on Teecraze.com
2. Neil Bygrave had a win at the British Wildlife Photography Awards
3. Loads of artists were featured in the 2011 Drawing Day Book. You can see the list here.
4. adriangeronimo prepared for his exhibition in Vancouver in October

_{Works by adriangeronimo}

1. Marie Van Schie had her poetry published
2. Adelaide bubblers are planning a meet up on the 23rd of October
3. msdebbie reminded Victorian writers about the Poetry Slam in Castlemaine
4. genivieve’s work is to be published in literary and art journal, Upstairs at Duroc

_{Works by genivieve}

1. GrandmaMattie reported on the West Country meet up in the UK last weekend
2. Brett Ro

Jarvis Cocker described Jeffrey Lewis as “The best lyricist working in the US today” which is reason enough to interview the man but you may be wondering why we were so keen to add an interview with Jeffrey to our own back catalogue. Jeffrey is not only a lyrical wonder, he’s also a prolific comic artist who has been producing comics since childhood.

For Jeffrey, the worlds of comic art and music are intertwined. You’ll find comic art incorporated into his live performances and videos, and he’s produced artwork for his own albums as well as collaborating with the likes of The Cribs, Art Brut and The Mountain Goats. Jeffrey Lewis has an unbridled dedication to his own comic book creations and illustrations, making him a bit of an unstoppable creative hurricane…

This impressive and thought provoking piece of protest art was reported last week in The LA times.

An anonymous band of artists painted a giant pair of scissors and a dotted line on the face of 200-foot Matilija Dam near Ojai. For years, an alliance of environmentalists, fishermen, surfers and officials from every level of government has called for demolishing the obsolete structure, which was built in 1947. (Mel Melcon, Los Angeles Times / September 19, 2011) … More here.

_{Via The World’s Best Ever}

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. This week we saw writers completing and beginning degrees, artists sharing works in progress and behind the scenes images from exhibitions and news of professional shoots and assignments. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by dinglegallery}

1. dinglegallery shared the process behind a recent work
2. RC deWinter will be exhibiting her work in Connecticut in October
3. Kimberley Heslop completed her English Literature degree
4. John Poon shared a work in progress

_{Works by John Poon}

1. Kelvin Hayes shared images from his work at Istanbul Fashion Week
2. PJ Ryan was offered a place studying for an Advanced Diploma of Screenwriting
3. Nadine Henley shared notes from a workshop with fashion photographer Peter Coul

The Burning House is a blog with a seemingly simple premise. Creator Foster Huntington asks you to consider the following question: If your house was burning, what would you take with you? Readers respond by submitting photos or illustrations of those items they treasure the most. From the practical to the sentimental, the items give us an insight into the lives of their owners.

_{Click on the images to find out more about their owners}

Weekend Project: We’d like you to create a submission for the Burning House blog. Whether you choose to submit the final work is entirely up to you but we’d love to see what you come up with in response to Foster’s question. Firstly, you’ll need to decide which items make the list. And then you’ll need to consider how you can…

Ahoy mateys! Each year on September 19 we don our eye patches, whack a parrot on our shoulders and make sure everything’s shipshape for International Talk Like a Pirate Day. To get us in the mood for all the plundering and grog swilling, we’ve gathered a treasure chest full of pirate flavoured sticker and t-shirt designs perfect for tying to the mast or decorating a peg leg.

But the piratey goodness doesn’t stop there! We’re a bit stumped as to what we should call a group of pirates. We don’t want to fight any longer (it’s carrrrnage at Arrr B HQ right now – someone’s forcing Mr Baxter to walk the plank as we speak) so it’s over to you. The swashbuckling vagabond who suggests the most inventive collective noun for a group of pirates wi…

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Victor Pugatschew}

1. Victor Pugatschew will be exhibiting his work in Daylesford, Victoria in November
2. Neil Bygrave’s work was highly commended at the British Wildlife Photography Awards
3. Kay Cunningham is exhibiting her work at Halls Gap, Victoria in October
4. Jude Allman shared the story behind a recent painting

_{Works by Tahnja}

1. Tahnja shared some works in progress
2. Danilo Lejardi shared the process behind a recent work
3. Ben Kern and Alixzandra discussed whether it’s possible to schedule spontaneity
4. Alan Harris will be exhibiting his work in Kurrajong, NSW

_{Works by Karen Gingell}

1. Karen Gingell has work in two exhibitions opening in Melbourne nex

Many designers only consider how their background t-shirt colors work with their designs when they come to upload their files but savvy designers make it part of the plan from the outset. We’ve put together a list of tips to ensure your design works perfectly on your cotton coloured canvas. To get things rolling, here are a bunch of designers whose works beautifully complement their color choices.

The colors you choose should be partly dictated by your subject matter and this isn’t a bad place to start when thinking about your color palette. Depending on the complexity of your design, you’ll need to think about your line art, fill colors and colors for any shading or highlights. They need to complement each other but if you can work with a palette that c…

We’d like to give tee designers a heads up about some up and coming pricing changes. For a while now the base prices of our tees haven’t been aligned with the prices charged by RedBubble’s suppliers. When it comes to setting base prices for clothing, there are quite a few variables but the cost is largely determined by the color, size and style of the tee plus the amount of ink used to print the design.

Up until now our t-shirt base prices have been determined by style only. So to align our pricing more closely with the cost of manufacture, we’ll be making some adjustments to the base prices in the coming days. This will mean that while some of the base prices will increase, others will be reduced. Full details of the changes can be found in our list of base prices…

Since Renaissance times some of our greatest thinkers have grappled with the scientific and mathematical formulas behind what we consider to be beautiful or aesthetically pleasing. For many of us, science and math couldn’t be further from our minds when we create art. Some of us even become twitchy when these subjects are mentioned but if we can put aside the psychological damage inflicted by certain high school teachers, the math and science of art and nature is a fascinating subject, and one that may just change the way you observe the things around you.

The Fibonacci Sequence and The Golden Ratio provide us with the mathematical formulas behind some of the patterns we see reflected in the world around us. Renaissance mathematicians believed that you could apply these formulas…

It’s been another incredibly busy week for artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted in the past seven days:

_{Works by The Game of Kings}

1. After three years, the epic collaboration that is The Game of Kings came to an end
2. EmberFairbairnRamsay is hosting an open studio in The Yarra Valley this weekend
3. Geoffrey Dunn’s work was featured in Frankie Magazine
4. Richard Morden’s work will be part of the Brunswick Show exhibition

_{Works by Richard Morden}

1. polly470’s work will be exhibited at Brick Lane Gallery in London
2. NSW artists are meeting up for Fish and Chips by the Shoalhaven River
3. Jan Szymczuk is converting his garage/stables into an Art studio
4. Kable is keen to arrange a meet up for Adelaide artists

_{Works by EmberFairbairnRamsay}

1. Join Arcadia

Late last Friday evening Dean (aka pomgonwalkabout) was walking along Currarong beach, near Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast when he spotted a whale about 100 metres off shore. He returned at the crack of dawn on Saturday with his camera and telephoto to see if he could spot it again, only to find that the whale had beached itself during the night. Dean contacted NSW Parks and Wildlife and while he waited for them to arrive he found himself in a situation he knew he’d probably never experience again. Alone on a beach with his camera … and a humpback whale.

It wasn’t long before locals arrived and while they waited for help they set to work, trying to save the whale. Soon NSW parks staff and volunteers from ORRCA arrived and they began their rescue efforts in earnest. D…

Emily Reile, Julie Roche, Alexandra Roche & Annie Wang are the designers behind Cave Party, an independent design collective, dancing on the knife edge of design and fine art. Individually they’ve made impressive starts to their careers, landing internships with great companies and producing work for clients including Urban Outfitters, Apple, MSNBC, Harvard Business School and Topman. But when it comes to their non-client work they have even greater ambitions.

Cave Party would like to redefine our relationship with graphic design. They’ve been working hard to celebrate the ‘female’ in ‘female designer’ and to make their mark on the American contemporary design world with work that features subtle feminist undertones and unapologetic aggression. We recently sat down for a chat wi…

It’s been another busy week for artists on the bubble. Here are just a few projects and pieces of news that caught our eye over the past seven days.

_{Works by Stefano Popovski}

1. Stefano Popovski was interviewed by Front Row Society
2. evemunich met a giant snail
3. Glen McBeth won an editorial gold award at the Association of Illustrators awards
4. The RedBubble Collective (RBC) were interviewed on the Design Juices blog

_{Works from members of the RBC}

1. João Figueiredo shared some behind the scenes pics from his recent exhibition
2. berndt2 shared the latest fruits of his One Photo A Day project
3. Bret Taylor was interviewed on the Flavor Designs blog
4. secretplanet is looking for Tasmanian artists to take part in an Exhibition

_{Works by secretplanet}

1. Issue 13 of the Pink Panther Group Magazine was published
2. Mo

You may have noticed a link hovering at the top of MyBubble for the past week or so, tempting you to try out the new product pages. It’s a project that has been in the pipelines for a while so we’d like to share some of the thinking behind the changes.

A significant amount of visitors to RedBubble land deep within the site and many of them arrive on a product page. We imagine that quite a few new visitors to RedBubble feel a little like the crew of the Enterprise feel when they’re beamed onto a new planet. You take in your surroundings very quickly, try to get your bearings then decide (again very quickly) whether you want to stick around.

Your art, design, photography and writing has done the hard work of getting them this far so it’s only fair that we ensure tho…

Have you set up Google Analytics for your RedBubble account? What’s the weirdest stat or strangest insight you’ve come across? Here’s 10 random things we learnt this month from Google Analytics:

1. This little cardboard guy’s name is Danbo
2. 316 people found us by searching for Fancy Cat Drawing
3. Only 167 people found us by searching for Alpaca (must work harder on Alpaca market)
4. At least 343 people were trying to find Bill Gates’ yacht
5. Lens fungus is no laughing matter
6. One person found us by searching for “alpaca+al pacino” (now there’s a challenge idea)
7. The plural of Jabberwocky is not Jabbawockeez
8. An unhealthy amount of people would get sleazy for Ron Weasley
9. Over 47,000 Italians visited RedBubble. But only one person from North Korea.

_{Lots of It}…

It’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. This week we’ve spotted insightful discussions, interesting projects and a bunch of achievements we’re really quite impressed by. Plus many bubblers offering a ton of support and encouragement for each other’s efforts. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Tordo}

1. Tordo invited Collage artists to take part in a collaborative project
2. Linda Callaghan won The Rose Lindsay Art Prize
3. RedBubble Writers shared ghost stories around a virtual campfire
4. Artists in Copenhagen are organising a meet up in September

_{Copenhagen flavoured works by tore999, evStyle, Thomas Andersen and reflexio}

1. Alan Hogan will be exhibiting his work in Helsinki in September
2. Colorado artists are organising a meet up in the R

The past seven days has been pretty busy for artists on the bubble. We’ve read news of magazine features, exhibitions, competition wins and even a tv interview. And as always, you’ve been generous with your knowledge, sharing speed painting demos, WIP journals and helping each other out with advice. So enough jibber jabber from us. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week:

_{Works by Donnahuntriss}

1. Donnahuntriss was selected for the Polish Biennale Drawing Art Prize
2. Damien Mason was interviewed by Design Montage
3. mayumi received and honourable mention in the International Photography Awards
4. João Figueiredo will be exhibiting work at Konstrakan 2011 in Sweden

_{Works by AngiandSilas}

1. AngiandSilas would like to include your art in their book
2. Sarah ORourke leant her support

One of the first things that strikes you about great street photography, photojournalism and documentary photography is its ability to convey a story in a split second, and to evoke emotion in just as little time. The impact is heightened when you realise the element of chance involved in producing many of these images. The following collection pays tribute to photographers who have a special talent for capturing just the right moment.

London Tourists by David Malcolmson

Wrinkled Chopsticks by eyesoftheeast

Arrivederci by Zoltan Madacsi

Returning From The Fields by Naturalnomad

Montreal Die-In by KreddibleTrout

Bill and his dog Ted by docophoto

In The Temple by Paul McSherry

Nathan Rd by Jonathan Russell

The Food Vendor by Mike de Lange

Sleep Little Boy by StamatisGR

Pygmy Father & Ch…

Sydney-based creative duo, We Buy Your Kids, run by Sonny Day and Biddy Maroney, have infiltrated popular culture and the design world by way of album covers, poster art, websites, walls, and apparently even a Jeep! WBYK have managed to achieve something many designers and illustrators dream of. They work as full time freelancers, producing work for some amazing clients. Recently RedBubble spoke with Biddy about the origins of their freelance empire.

RB: Tell us about how you both started out as artists. Did you begin by discovering an interest for art (of any/all forms) and then hone this through an art school?

Biddy: I think Sonny and I are both living out an extension of our teenage fantasies. I know for myself that the excitement of being 14 and discovering the music that you love, s…

Little Scraps of Paper is a lovely series of mini documentaries giving us a glimpse at how different creative people document their ideas and thoughts. From Rebecca Miller’s need to record everything meticulously in sketchbooks to Paul Bower’s desire to make less conscious decisions about how a work evolves, these films give us a fascinating insight into different approaches to creativity. If you fancy a little inspiration, there are over 27 videos, with more being added regularly. They’re also available for free as audio podcasts (on iTunes) – perfect listening for your morning commute.

Another week, another smorgasbord of news from talented people around the bubble. From meet ups to magazine features, exhibitions to artistic experiments, here’s some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Elle-On-Wheels and Rhoufi}

1. Elle-On-Wheels and Rhoufi want your work for a photography exhibition in Melbourne
2. Aimelle reported on the recent RB meet up in Montreal
3. Anne Nierengarten entered the Brooklyn Library’s 2012 Sketchbook Project
4. Chris Jackson’s tee was featured in Japan’s MiniWorld Magazine

_{Works by Chris Jackson}

1. Braidy Hughes is exhibiting her work at the Logan Gallery in Queensland
2. Husky had a win in the My Region National Photography Competition
3. Bart Castle shared a work in progress
4. Ira Mitchell-Kirk shared how she starts a new painting

_{Works by Ira Mi}…

It’s sometimes easy to be impressed by images of beautiful locations we may never visit or masterpieces we’d never have the patience to create but we have to admit we harbour a secret admiration for people who can take an ordinary object and use it to create a beautiful image. It’s a reminder that with a little imagination, inspiration could be as close as your desktop, wardrobe or garden shed. As the images below demonstrate, ordinary, everyday objects make wonderful subjects for photographic experiments, paintings, drawings and t-shirt designs:

And if you’re after a little more inspiration, head on over to the Art of the Mundane, Domestic Art, Object Studies & Concepts or Knick Knacks groups.

Weekend Project: Your mission is to put …

A little inspiration for a Monday. If you appreciate the art of great typography, you may enjoy this short documentary from the Off Book series by PBS Arts. It contains musings from Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, Paula Scher and Eddie Opara among others. There’s also great section at the end which explains the difference between a typeface and a font, serif and sans serif, categories of typefaces and the anatomy of a typeface. Handy if you’re a little rusty on the basics!

[Video]

Related Reading:

1. Drowning In Type
2. Letterpress: An Instructional Video
3. Inspiration: Found Type

It’s time for another round up of all the action on RedBubble in the past week so grab yourself a toasted sandwich, pull up a seat and join us for a wander through the week’s news:

_{Works by KathyT}

1. KathyT’s work features in the August edition of Landscape Photography Magazine
2. Robin Orta is exhibiting work in Texas in September
3. Zane Paxton shared an introduction to Macro and Close Up Photography
4. Jeff Clark will be exhibiting his work in Newberg, Oregon

_{Works by Jeff Clark}

1. dinglegallery shared some nifty watercolor techniques
2. A bunch of designers were featured in Coty Gonzales’ list of 101 Superhero T-Shirts
3. AmandaGWright will be exhibiting and selling her work in Hawkesbury, Ontario
4. Carole Boyd celebrated a magazine feature and an invitiation to exhibit her work

_Wo…

Ever wondered how an idea is developed from rough sketch through to finished artwork for a skateboard deck? Z-Flex gives us a behind the scenes glimpse at the process in this short video created to celebrate 35 years making skateboards. It’s a great clip, made even more cool as it features RB artist Scott Robinson rocking it on the pencil and mouse. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for an excuse to explore, experiment and play, here’s a task to follow up on the Introduction To Color Theory we posted earlier in the week. There’s no pressure, no competition, no judging … it’s just an exercise to get the creative juices flowing and to give those right brains a workout. The deadline is next Tuesday so there’s also no rush to post something, in fact experimenting and playing with ideas is the most important part of exercises like these so we’d prefer it if you took your time!

For this task you’ll need to revisit the color theory quick reference sheet we linked to earlier in the week. We’d like you to pick one of the keywords from the meanings section on the chart and create a brand new work based on …

This week we’re looking at all things color related. During our travels we’ve come across a number of infographics and visualizations giving insight into the world of color, from the colors used by the world’s biggest brands to different cultural meanings for colors. But we wanted to share one in particular.

Last year, the folks behind the xkcd web comic surveyed over 5,000,000 people to find out how they’d describe particular colors. They took the 2,000 most commonly used color names, sized them by usage and split them by gender. The results are insightful and hilarious at the same time. Somewhat predictably, it seems one man’s ‘vomit brown’ is another woman’s ‘burnt gold’ but other results are surprisingly refreshing.

Men seem…

Recent articles from Imprint Magazine on the history of the color wheel reminded us how rusty our color theory is so we’ve spent some time scrubbing up on our skills and gathering together some of the best resources we can find. We came across so much great material, we’ve decided to devote a number of posts to the subject so keep an eye on the blog this week for more inspiration and information.

_{Goethe’s color wheel from his 1810 Theory of Colours}

Getting To Grips With Color Theory
 

At its most basic, colour theory describes knowledge and principles that can be applied when using color in your work. Color theory is believed to date back to the 15th century so you can imagine there’s been quite a lot written on the subject. The following articles cover the ba…

It’s time for another round up of all the action on RedBubble in the past week so grab yourself a refreshing beverage, pull up a seat and feast your eyes on these tasty nuggets of news:

_{Works by Yvonca}

1. Yvonca had an amazing opportunity to see her recent large scale artwork from the air
2. Christina Rodriguez celebrated a four page feature in an arts magazine
3. Nigel Donald shared some advice on shooting with models
4. naokostoop is exhibiting her work at the Swoon Gallery in LA

_{Works by naokosstoop}

1. Jay Lethbridge reported on the recent RedBubble meet at Looe and Polperro
2. Bart Castle sold his first original work
3. martin7 is exhibiting his work in Penrith, NSW
4. Irina & Silviu Székely are exhibiting their work in Cardiff, Wales

_{Works by Irina & Silviu Székely}

1. Mark Richards, Janine Paris

If you’re not usually a fan of animated gifs, the work of Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg may challenge your perceptions. More subtle and artistic gifs have been appearing across the web for a little while now, but Jamie and Kevin’s Cinemagraphs take things to a new level. They combine the techniques used to create animated gifs with beautiful photography and subtle movement. The results are described as “something more than a photo, and something less than a video”. If you fancy finding out what’s involved in creating your own Cinemagraphs, we’ve posted links to a few tutorials below.

_{You can find these and other examples on Jamie’s blog – From Me To You.}

“Cinemagraphs capture a delicate part of life and capture the fleeting moments of tim

It’s been another busy week for artists on the bubble. Here are just a few projects and pieces of news that caught our eye over the past seven days.

_{Works by Aleksandra Kabakova}

1. Aleksandra Kabakova was featured in the T-Squat online magazine
2. Adelaide bubblers are organising a photo walk
3. Bubblers in Copenhagen are organising a meet up in September
4. Husky won a photography competition

_{Works by Husky}

1. Maria Paterson took part in a Solo Exhibition group workshop
2. The 3D Landscapes Gone Digital group interviewed Syd Baker
3. LilyM’s work was featured on io9.com
4. petegrev started a photo a day project

_{Works by petegrev}

1. dinglegallery taught us how to create texture with clingfoil when painting with watercolour
2. Tom Trager’s work was posted on the official Scott Pilgrim Facebook page
3. Mae

Over the next four days around 130,000 comic art and sci fi fans will descend upon San Diego’s Comic-Con, one of the largest annual comic art conventions in the known universe. The conference celebrates comic art, science fiction, fantasy, horror, animation, manga, film and television, video games, collectable toys and fantasy novels. To pay tribute to this immense geek-fest, we’ve pulled together a list of eye-wateringly amazing comic art and character design. Setting phasers to stun …

Ninja Tom – The Big Brawl 2 by Shiro

In The Line of Fire by Reiq

Eddard Stark. Lord of Winterfell, Paramount and Warden of the North by Douglas Holgate

Girl in Red by Vivienne To

Spidey by kenmeyerjr

The Walking Dead Coloured by MRD Page 3 by morphfix

Jack by Rivenis

Killeroo at Ho…

Herschel Pollard has two great passions in life, Nashville and Pinhole photography. In spare moments he writes about these over at the Square Peg Pinhole blog. As a learning tool, Herschel began capturing his subjects with a digital camera as well as his trusty pinhole. The resulting comparisons show that it only takes a box with a hole (and a little patience) to create beautiful, dream-like images. We asked Herschel what first drew him to the charms of pinhole photography:

HP: My daily work life is filled with technology. I began creating websites when AOL was still the primary internet service provider, Yahoo! was the only search engine and getting directions from point A to point B required paper maps. I adopted pinhole because it strips technology from the photographic process. There…

We hope you’ve had a productive and creative week! This week’s wrap up features artists who have been busy guest blogging, organising exhibitions, sharing resources and recovering from meet ups. Here are just a few projects and pieces of news that caught our eye over the past seven days.

_{Works by Marlies Odehnal}

1. Marlies Odehnal is exhibiting her work at the Frankfurt Art Club
2. Evelyn Bach completed her quest to write 500 words a day for 30 days
3. Matt Floyd’s work was shortlisted for the 2011 Cork Street Open Exhibition, London
4. Mariska, Anita Inverarity and others are exhibiting works in Brick Lane Gallery, London

_{Works by Mariska and Anita Inverarity}

1. Pam Hogg and Vickie Emms reported on a recent meet up
2. Stephie Butler was part of the Society of Women Artists exhibition

Talented graphic designer and illustrator Glenn Jones (aka Glennz) has recently joined Vimeo and over the past week he has been uploading videos showing his illustration process. If you’re keen to see a master of the pen tool in action, we’d recommend heading over to his Vimeo profile where more videos are appearing daily.

_{(Via the HideYourArms blog)}

We’ve read some brilliant journals announcing exhibitions and events but we’ve also come across a few that require an investigative team to piece together exactly what the event is and in which country it’s being held. We understand this may be a result of sheer exhaustion after orgainising a venue, framing all your work and arranging enough booze for opening night, so we’ve whipped up a few tips on writing an announcement about your event to help you over the finish line.

When writing your announcement, begin by thinking about your audiences. It’s likely that there will be more than one. Consider potential attendees, people who will offer their support and congratulations (even a small ego boost can help squash pre-event nerves), local press or media, yo…

This week artists were busy organising group exhibitions, planning meet ups, collaborating on projects and sharing works in progress. As always, there’s loads of inspiration in the list below so grab a refreshing beverage, pull up a chair and feast your eyes on some of the action we’ve spotted this week.

_{Works by Gabby Malpas and Kerry Thompson}

1. Gabby Malpas and Kerry Thompson are exhibiting work together in Gorton, NSW
2. Lisa Rhodes, Roz McQuillan and Roberto Duran are planning a group exhibition in Sydney
3. Randi Antonsen painted a portrait of Jay Taylor’s daughter Gracie
4. The True Colors of Asia group’s featured gallery got some well deserved attention

_{Featured works from the True Colors of Asia group}

1. John Robb visited exhibitions by Kaitlin Beckett and Jessica An

It’s time for another wrap up of news, inspiration, achievements and activity from artists on RedBubble. This week artists were busy meeting their heroes, completing sketchbook projects, preparing for radio interviews and collaborating with others. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Michele Meister}

1. Michele Meister completed her 30 Day Sketchbook Project
2. Varry is exhibiting work at the Kaleidescope Gallery in Sydney
3. Robert Charles met one of his photographic heroes, Fred Herzog
4. Mikoto’s work will soon be featured in department stores in three countries

_{Works by Mikoto}

1. Paula McManus’ work was selected as Australian Geographic’s Photo of the Week
2. Orest Macina is exhibiting work at the Black Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon
3. Karin Taylor shared tips

This lovely little film was shot over 5 days and two evenings as a series of stills. You can find a description of the shoot, camera, lenses and workflow here, if you’re into that sort of thing. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy a day in the life of New York City, in miniature.

From meet-ups and group exhibitions to competition wins and press coverage, it’s been a busy week in the RedBubble community. So without further ado, prepare to be impressed by these bite sized chunks of news from the Bubblesphere.

_{Works by Rubyred and Naf4d}

1. Rubyred and Naf4d were featured in Advanced Photographer
2. Bubblers are meeting up in Somerset, UK this Sunday 26th June
3. Medusa is exhibiting her work in Bewdley, Worcs, UK
4. Adam Spence received a Gold in the 2011 Prix De La Photographie Paris

_{Works by Adam Spence}

1. The Lal Lal Moorabool Photographic group were awarded an arts grant
2. Mel Brackstone’s work was on display at Sydney’s PMA
3. Scott Hendricks celebrated having his first book published
4. berndt2, Rhana, babibell and Paul Louis Villani were interviewed

_{Works by th}…

If there’s one thing that makes the RedBubble community unique, it’s a willingness by artists to share knowledge and information to help others to become better at their craft. Many artists recognise how important creativity is in their own lives so encouraging creativity in others seems to come naturally. Recently, we’ve been struck by two examples of this willingness to share. The first comes in the shape of the RedBubble Tutorials Library. The group has been chugging along for just over a year and in that time they have amassed quite an index of tutorials from some of the brightest on the bubble. Wander through the group’s forums and you’ll discover tips on:

1. 3D stereo photography
2. How to improve a failed painting
3. Marketing and selling your work
4. How to create Y

And so it happened that while admiring some of your works we stumbled upon the magical world of Pyrography – the art of burning images into wood. If you’re new to this technique then prepared to be mesmerized. Not only is the work quite beautiful, there’s plenty of new equipment to be discovered and techniques to be explored …

Pyrography describes the technique of burning images into wood using a tool which is similar to a soldering iron. The tool leaves scorch marks in the wood and different tools result in different shades of colour and different textures. The result is a sepia toned image but many pyrographic artists add colour using pastels, watercolour or acrylics. The best pyrographic works successfully combine the subtle woodgrain textures with beautiful…

It’s time for another wrap up of news, inspiration, achievements and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Mario Donk}

1. Mario Donk shared some work in progress images of his latest work
2. Kimberly Daigle is taking part in the Arts Alive Festival in Falmouth, MA this weekend
3. Mieke Boynton’s work will be on display in the Kimberley region of Western Australia
4. Citizen’s work was featured on three book covers

_{Works by Citizen}

1. Alvaro Sánchez’s work will feature on the cover of L.A. band The Warlock’s new album
2. Anne Staub experimented with Scannography
3. Constance Widen was inspired by Cee Neuner
4. donnamalone shared Richard Diebenkorn’s Notes to myself on beginning a painting

_{Works by donnamalone}

1. Jellysc

Mickey Smith is a surf photographer who ‘never set out to become anything in particular, only to live creatively’. This short film captures his passion for photography.

[Video]

For further inspiration, head over to the Surfing and Surfing and Bodyboarding groups …

It’s time for another wrap up of news, inspiration, achievements and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Adam Bogusz}

1. Adam Bogusz shared a series of videos showing the process behind his works
2. berndt2 rubbed shoulders with The Hoff and Tom Hanks at the Larry Crowne Premiere
3. bodymechanic is looking for artists to be part of an exhibition in Sydney in July
4. Odille Esmonde-Morgan won the Image of the Month in Better Digital Camera magazine

_{Works by Odille Esmonde-Morgan}

1. Jan Szymczuk shared a tutorial on the Slip and Slide drawing method and Embossing
2. Tania and Transmute were interviewed
3. Susan Moss is exhibiting work in Sorrento, Western Australia
4. 1morephoto shared an animation by fellow bubbler Loui Jover

_{Works by Loui Jove}…

It’s time for another weekly wrap up of news, inspiration, achievements and activity from artists on RedBubble. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week:

_{Works by Sandrine Pelissier}

1. Sandrine Pelissier shared the complicated relationship she has with her work
2. Jan Siemucha spent a day shooting aerial photographs
3. Mary Ann Reilly was featured in F-Stop Magazine
4. John Hare and others are planning a meet up in Lancashire, UK

_{Works by John Hare}

1. Robert H Carney discussed camera basics
2. Alvaro Sánchez’s work will be part of an exhibition in Italy
3. Tania Rose and muscularteeth shared their latest collaboration
4. Nick Board had a win in the Telegraph newspaper’s Pub Life competition

_{Works by Nick Board}

1. Bryan Peterson had success in the Gig Harbor Maritime Juried art exhibiti

This Saturday June 4th, RedBubble is taking part in Drawing Day, a worldwide drawing event which encourages everyone to drop everything and draw for the sake of art and creativity. The aim is to create and upload 1 million drawings within 24 hours so we’re going to need as many doodles, sketches and squiggles as possible. The Drawing Day website has linked to the RedBubble Drawing Day group and all works created on the day and uploaded to the group will be added to the final tally.

Whether you’re an accomplished illustrator, a part time doodler or someone who hasn’t drawn in years, you’re more than welcome to join us. If you’d like to take part in Drawing Day on the 4th of June, join the Drawing Day group and stay tuned for more in…

Urban Exploration or “Urbex” describes the exploration and photography of abandoned buildings and structures that aren’t normally accessible to the general public. Sometimes described as photography’s extreme sport, it attracts adrenaline junkies and photographers with a sense of adventure. It’s easy to see the appeal of discovering the surprises these kinds of buildings hold within their walls. Urbex photography often hints at untold stories, long forgotten memories and hidden secrets.

Urbex can be risky and dangerous and in many cases it involves flouting trespass laws. But it doesn’t always go hand in hand with breaking the law. As some of the links at the bottom of this post show, there are a number of ways to gain access to abandoned or der…

This week, artists seemed to be in the mood for sharing their creative projects, from adventures with Box Brownie cameras to musical recordings and stop motion experiments. There were competition wins, invitations to exhibitions and it seems a few of you have caught the meet-up bug! Here’s just some of the action and inspiration we’ve enjoyed this week.

_{Works by Michael Lee}

1. Michael Lee played with stop motion animation
2. Uncleblack breathed new life into a poem by Karin Taylor
3. Michael Alesich shared a creative work project involving at least one goat
4. berndt2 updated us on his photo a day project and shared the stories behind the images

_{Works by berndt2}

1. theBottstar thanked bubblers for igniting his creative spark
2. Bubblers are planning a meet up in Scotland
3. Blythart had a mini meetup wi

When we feel like we’re spending far too much time in front of a keyboard and monitor we like to remind ourselves of the simple pleasures of inky fingers, paint covered sleeves and chemical smells that are seemingly less and less commonplace as our worlds become more digitized. We have huge admiration for artists who dedicate time and energy towards keeping old techniques and processes alive so when we came across this video we just had to share. For those of you who are unfamiliar with how letterpress printing works, this video by designer Naomie Ross, is a beautifully filmed introduction which perfectly captures why this printing technique still has a dedicated and passionate following.

_{(via swissmiss)}

It’s been another busy week on RedBubble. Here’s just a taste of what you’ve been up to:

_{Works by Rebecca Morrison and Daniel Butler}

1. Rebecca Morrison and Daniel Butler shared the results of a collaboration
2. Maree Clarkson taught us How To Create As Easily As You Breathe
3. dinglegallery discussed the joy of watching a painting come to life
4. Graham Cox and his work were featured on UK TV (thanks to Josh for the tip!)

_{Works by Graham Cox}

1. Phil Woodman shared some pictures from a recent meet up
2. Sarah Bentvelzen’s work was published in the Blue Fringe Arts Poetry Book
3. Maliha Rao shared the story behind her work, Beauty in the Breakdown
4. Chris Brett was nominated for the Urban Culture Conference: Best of Vancouver Award

_{Works by Chris Brett}

1. Sybille Sterk shared a great article on colour

Today’s post is dedicated to the ingenious, inventive and impressive things artists are doing with paper toys. Paper toys have a bit of a cult following amongst designers, illustrators and cartoonists and they are popping up more and more regularly, thanks to the increasing popularity of art forms like paper cutting and custom toys. Paper toys are usually provided by artists as a free, printable download for others to cut out and assemble and designs can range from simple box shaped characters to complex creations. To get the ball rolling, here are just a few designs from artists on RedBubble:

_{Paper toys by Tokyo Candies, Trystan Mitchell, Wilmer Murillo, Zoo&co, Heiko Windisch and Desktop Gremlins}

Getting Started: If you’re keen to create your own paper toy, there are no…

From exhibitions and collaborations to competition wins and press coverage, bubblers have had a very busy week. Some artists even made time for a little Watchlist Bingo. So without further ado, prepare to be impressed by the following bite sized chunks of news from the Bubblesphere.

_{Works by The Game of Kings}

1. 20+ artists involved in The Game of Kings project launched part two of their collaboration
2. Rosalie Dale celebrated a couple of competiton wins
3. Craig Stronner’s work will be featured on an Australia Post Postcard Series
4. Stuart Chapman and a whole load of artists played Watchlist Bingo

_{Works by Stuart Champan – Watchlist Bingo Master Of Ceremonies}

1. WaWa by Johnah celebrated making the finals in ePhoto’s Colour Awards
2. LeeAnne Emrick’s work will be part of a jurie

In just over three weeks artists across the globe will be taking part in Drawing Day – a day devoted to drawing just for enjoyment, whether you’re a professional illustrator or someone who hasn’t sketched or scribbled in years. But before you go hunting for your favourite pens and markers, there are more pressing issues to attend to. It’s time to announce the the winners of our Drawing Day Design Challenge. The envelope please …

In First Place: Drawing Day 2011 by Sanne Thijs

In Second Place: Everybody draws! by Japu

In Third Place: Drawing Day 2011 by Naf4D

And Our Runners Up:
Drawing Day Logo by Sandygrafik

Drawing Day by Sarah Mac

Congratulations to the winners! The first, second and third place winners each receive a $100 USD RB gift voucher and their work w…

It’s been another busy week on RedBubble so without further ado, here’s a large helping of awesome sauce to go with your weekend breakfast:

_{Works by shyrawr}

1. shyrawr was selected to represent New Hampshire in the Congressional Art Competition
2. DarKarsean’s work won an award in a Bush Poets Competition
3. Lina is travelling from New York to England and would love to meet up with UK bubblers
4. Nick Skinner was featured in his local paper

_{Works by Nick Skinner}

1. Ragman shared the story behind one of his works
2. John De Bord taught us about natural light and photography
3. Garth Smith got some great advice about purchasing an ultra wide angle lens

_{Works by Garth Smith}

1. Mike Cressy embarked on a project to create a coloring book for adults
2. Scott Black was invited to exhibit his work in Lo

We love it when artists share the process behind their work and his video from talented tee designer, Walmazan is a fine example. It’s always interesting to see how other designers work, the shortcuts they use and how they make programs like Photoshop and Illustrator work for them. This video also has some great tips for artists who are interested in learning more about using halftones in their designs.

[Video]

_{(Spotted over at the Compete-tee-tion blog)}

Related Articles:

1. T-shirt design tips
2. How to make a great t-shirt
3. 25 must read t-shirt tutorials
4. RedBubble t-shirt and sticker tutorial by FA Moore (video)

Recently we’ve pushed out a handful of updates we think you’ll find quite handy:

Google Analytics: You can now link your RedBubble profile to Google Analytics, enabling you to track visitors and find out a whole bunch of interesting information about who has been viewing your work including the countries they come from, which pages are most popular and how people are finding you. Google Analytics can take a little getting used to if you haven’t used it before but it’s well worth spending some time familiarising yourself with how it works. The settings can be found under MyBubble > Account Settings > Google Analytics. We’ve also written a handy FAQ to get you started.

See Your Work in Groups: Head on over to a group overview page and you’ll see an…

At RedBubble we place great importance on issues of copyright and intellectual property. Aside from the legal issues, respect and recognition of other artists is a fundamental principle on which the RedBubble community is built. As more works are added to RedBubble, the job of managing content becomes increasingly more involved. With that in mind we’ve sought advice from people who tackle these issues for a living and we’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about how best we can manange this responsibility in the future.

We will shortly be introducing DMCA policy for copyright reporting, bringing us in line with a number of larger sites who face the same kinds of issues relating to the management of content. DMCA reporting gives artists a great deal of protection and enables us to quick…

This week there were loads of our favourite kinds of journals. The ones where artists generously share their insights, knowledge, advice and tips. As a result, we’ve learnt about tilt shift lenses, collage techniques, selling tees, writing graphic novels and the processes behind the creation of a couple of recent works. These kinds of journals are wonderful as they not only inspire us to try new things, they keep us curious and passionate about all things creative.

_{Works by Sally Sargent}

1. Sally Sargent shared some fantastic tips for creating collages
2. Janet Davies is exhibiting her work in Devon, UK in June and July
3. Plunder posted a great interview with Mike and Carol Werner
4. Diesel Laws shared his thoughts on selling tees without selling out

_{Works by Diesel Laws}

1. Janis Zroback sha

Mother’s Day is just around the corner. Last year Mr Baxter gave us a last minute opportunity to save our bacon by posting our Mother’s Day messages on the homepage. This year, we’d like to do something similar, but with a bit of a twist. We’d like you to join us in honoring those words of wisdom, turns of phrase and sayings that were repeatedly trotted out during our childhoods to ensure we grew up to be excellent people and so we didn’t make fools of our parents when we went over to Great Auntie Ethel’s house. Some of these may sound familiar:

1. Don’t run with scissors
2. Always wear clean underwear in case you get hit by a car
3. It’s always funny until someone gets hurt
4. Eat your crusts and your hair will go curly
5. If you keep pulling that face the wi

If you’re not yet suffering from Royal Wedding fatigue then dust off your best threads, put your hair in curlers and pull up a pew as we’re about to get all loved up and dewy-eyed. We’ve hung up the bunting, slapped together some cucumber sandwiches and assembled the trestle tables and we’d like to invite you to RedBubble’s own virtual street party. To get us in the mood, here’s a sprinkling of wedding themed works, fit for a Prince and Princess.

It seems like there’s no shortage of bubblers looking for advice on shooting weddings. Below we’ve featured just a few discussions we’ve spotted around the bubble where you’ve generously shared your hints and tips. If you’ve had experience shooting weddi…

This is just a little blog post.

A few things have caught our attention recently. Firstly, one of the things we love about RedBubble is how incredibly diverse the community is. This is overwhelmingly a good thing but every now and again we need to call for a translator. So we hope the following comment from Grunderszine is positive otherwise we are going to regret posting it – 7 Crowdsourcing Websites.. We guess it is, as the growth out of Europe recently has been remarkable.

While we are in a reflective mood, here are a couple of screen shots of how RedBubble may have looked. They are taken from the original business plan of 2006 that was used to raise the money to launch the business. What is interesting is that the basic philosophy of “Honor the Art” still shines thr…

There’s really no other way to describe our stickers than ‘completely brilliant’. And when we say ‘our’ stickers, what we really mean is ‘your’ stickers, because without the endless amounts of imaginative designs you’re conjuring up on an extremely regular basis, we’d just be posting out bits of sticky white plastic, and that’s not brilliant at all. So good work there.

Their success has been so extensive, and they’ve excited so many people that we thought we show you a short clip of how we make them:

[Video]

(HD version)

P.S. You may recognise the music from the Collections launch, and possibly be wondering where it came from. Well wonder no further, it was custom made for us by our very own Customer Service knight, Jesse M…

Groups are the little villages within the RedBubble universe, organised around a subject, genre, style or geographic location. Theyʼre places where like minded artists can gather to learn, encourage, teach, take part in challenges, share information, organise meet ups and discuss the topics that are close to their hearts. These activities play a huge part in life on RedBubble and play a vital role in creating safe, friendly environments where people feel welcomed, supported and encouraged.

While groups can provide another way to share your work, this isn’t the sole purpose behind their creation and it’s certainly only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how much you can gain from being an active member in a group. People often tell us that their participation in group activities …

There’s no such thing as a quiet week on the bubble and you’ve certainly been keeping busy this week. We enjoy reading through journals where artists have shared their achievements, news, tips and tricks and we’re always equally impressed by the support and encouragement offered in the comments. So without further ado, here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Jude Allman}

1. Parmi’s Jeans West t-shirt design has been revealed
2. Redtree is keeping us posted on Bluebell Watch Week
3. Tori is exhibiting and lending a helping hand in the Northport ArtWalk
4. Steve Hester has undertaken a mammoth collaboration with his Color Me project

_{Works by Kasia-D}

1. Linaji and Elizabeth Bravo are participating in a Napa Valley fundraiser
2. Plunder shared an insightful interview with Mike and C

Yes, $100. But first you have to check out these marvellous Buyers’ Booth winners. Unless you can think of any other way of getting to the bottom of the page.

I’m just going to report the comment I left on this: “Top right needs a caption like: “While I’m OK with you using my cuteness for your own personal financial gain you must understand I’m a busy man with companies to run and also when I’m older I’m going to put you in a home and spend your pension on women and hats.” $30 coming your way sjem, hide it from the child.

Normally when people are disappearing under a pile of (splendid) art produce in some kind of OHS nightmare they don’t smile. Not the case with dear Mieke Boynton at all, perhaps she just noticed she hadn’t finished unpacking that frame b…

Over two years ago I wrote a series of blog posts that talked about the underlying purpose of RedBubble (they had names such as “Art & Madness”, “Art & Music”, “Who’s the Artist?”). As the energy and activity on RedBubble increased I felt it was less important to talk about the game than to play it.

But every now and again I pause and reflect. When I have to explain RedBubble to others I can be caught short. It is easy to explain its functionality and, if I happen to be wearing one of my favorite T’shirts, I can illustrate it. What is much harder to do is to explain the energy and passion.

We see this energy and passion in every aspect of what happens here. It permeates the pixels and bytes of the site. It is also seen in the numbers. I was recently checking and the average RedBub…

It’s been another busy week on RedBubble. Lots of bubblers are exhibiting their work, embarking upon new projects, sharing tips and advice and offering bucket loads of support and encouragement to other artists. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by RobertCharles}

1. RobertCharles is taking part in three exhibitions in Vancouver
2. Soxy Flemming won an award for her pinhole photography
3. hsien-ku’s work was selected for the 2011 BSG $10,000 Picture This Prize and Exhibition
4. Painters In Modern Times published a jam packed group newsletter

_{Winners of Painters In Modern Times Painters of the Year}

1. Headcrime is exhibiting work in the Czech Republic
2. Justin Minns is having his first exhibition at Trillium Gallery
3. Linda Bianic’s work was published in 2,3,4 Club Magazin

After much biting of nails, rubbing of chins and furrowing of brows, we’re pleased to announce the winners of the Adobe Photoshop CS5 ‘Imaginify’ Challenge. The quality of work entered in this challenge was simply breathtaking – worlds were imagined, transformed and polished. We hope you’re sitting comfortably, with your party poppers and champagne at the ready. And the winners are …

Our overall winner – both the pick of the people and the judges – is Drummy with his stunning work “I’m not a bad guy, I’m just drawn that way (ver.2)”. The work is technically excellent, witty and thought provoking.

We have four runners-up chosen by our judges. Each will receive a copy of Photoshop CS5. The judges were impressed by the…

The Guardian newspaper in the UK publishes a fantastic feature each week called My Best Shot where photographers, designers, film producers and other creative people share their favourite photographs and the stories behind them. Inspired by this series, we’ve had a little poke around your profiles and have found some artists who have also shared the fascinating stories behind their works. Here are just a few (click on the images to see the full stories).

Angels, Unaware by Maureen Maliha: “I want to tell you something important,” he said, his already world-weary expression looking more grim than before, ‘I want you to eat better. I want you to take care of your liver. I want you to always smile like you smile now, and I want you to know that the world may be cold, but somewhere ther…

Many artists can probably identify with Allister Lee’s obsession with art supplies. The Toronto-based artist loves his marker pen collection so much he writes a blog, dedicated to reviewing his new acquisitions in detail. To mark the purchase of his 500th marker pen, Allister set out to draw his entire collection. He’s also hoping to set a new Guinness World Record.

_{Allister’s project – via Coolhunting}

Allister’s project has got us thinking about the tools, equipment and art supplies we obsess over (a quick poll at RB HQ reveals obsessions with vintage cameras, sharpies, 50mm lenses, masking fluid, 0.8mm fineliners and lime green ink with a metallic sheen) so we thought we’d widen our investigations and invite artists to share your favorite art supplies…

After months of rigorous research and training, we’re finally ready to unveil our latest limited edition product offering. For the past few months, if you’d visited RedBubble HQ after hours, you may have been alarmed by a sort of high pitched mechanical whizzing sound, cursing and sometimes a little bit of screaming, but it turns out there was no need to call the police after all.

Mr Baxter has been hard at work, exercising his creative skillz to bring you the latest offering in our fine range of RedBubble products. The limited edition RedBubble tattoo. That’s right folks, if someone loves your art so much it hurts, they can now literally love your art so much it hurts.

_{Please note: these should not, in any way, be mistaken for Mr Baxter’s own work}

How it works:…

With the risk of sounding like a broken record, we’ll say it again. You’re really are an impressive bunch! We love compiling the wrap each week but it often takes longer than planned as we’re easily distracted by the great things we find in your journals. This week we learnt loads more about the artists below and the RB printer also got a fair workout when we came upon Duncan Waldron’s journal. So without further ado, here’s what you got up to this week. But be warned – you might need a lie down after reading this.

_{Works by Roni Photography}

1. Roni Photography is speaking at the 10th Nikon Anniversary Celebration in Malaysia
2. Marguerite Foxon celebrated a win at an art show
3. Randy Monteith’s work will be featured in Advanced Photoshop Magazine
4. Elena M

From and ancient monuments and places of worship to modern skyscrapers and famous landmarks, aesthetically pleasing architecture has long provided inspiration for artists. But some of the images below show that inspiration can also be found in the less obvious architectural details or the more mundane buildings we pass by every day.

Written works inspired by Architecture and Buildings:

1. Legacies by George Hunter
2. Old Columns by taylorsavvy
3. Under City Lights by Melissa Park
4. We Build Towers to Watch Them Crumble by Nataly B. Basave
5. Architecture, a Reflection by Christopher J Lappin

If you’re looking for further inspiration or a place to share your own work, you can choose from a number of groups on RedBubble, including Architecture and Cityscapes, Contemporary Architecture, H…

Bubblers may remember that late last year we made some moves towards reducing the amount of tags on a work to a limit of 10. A great deal of consideration was given to this decision but we have since come to realise that for a number of reasons, we didn’t get it right.

And so we have been faced with a tough decision. We know a great number of artists put a large amount of effort into reducing tags and we’re acutely aware that a rethink on this decision would cause a great deal of work and a fair bit of grief for many artists. But we also want to do our best to connect you with people who will appreciate your work and we have realised that a 10 tag limit will hinder future efforts to do that. After a great deal of consideration we have decided that the best course of action is to set…

Candy Chang is a public installation artist, designer and urban planner who is passionate about redefining the ways we use public space. Her most recent project has turned an abandoned house in her local New Orleans neighbourhood into an art installation which encourages locals to reflect on what’s important to them. “It’s a question that has changed me in the last year, and I believe the design of our public spaces can better reflect what’s important to us as residents and as human beings”.

_{Story spotted on rebelart.com}

Do you have any examples of similar projects where art or design has been used to enhance communities or bring local people together? Are there any artworks in your neighbourhood that have captured your imagination or made you view your surroundings diff…

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for another wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. This week we’ve spotted insightful discussions, some interesting projects and a bunch of achievements we’re really quite impressed by. Plus many bubblers offering a ton of support and encouragement for each other’s efforts. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by ffarff}

1. ffarff will be exhibiting work at the At Large Gallery in Melbourne from the 6th of May
2. Devon and Cornwall bubblers are meeting up in Tyneham, Dorset this Sunday
3. Plunder posted a great interview with Hugh Fathers
4. RebeccaT’s work will be part of the ArtWorks Salon Exhibition in Patterson, NY

_{Works by RebeccaT}

1. Pene Stevens shared a local project with Paul Pichugin and a book laun

Bokeh comes from the Japanese word boke which can be loosely translated to mean ‘fuzzy’. It is used to describe the out of focus elements in a photo and the effect can be achieved by using a shallow depth of field. There’s much debate as to the true definition of bokeh, how it differs from background blur and whether it refers only to the out of focus highlights or bright spots but for the purposes of this post, we’ve chosen to keep the definition fairly broad. Here are a few examples from talented bubblers:

If you’d like to become a bokeh master, we’ve pulled together a few tutorials we’ve found around the web which should help you to get started. We’ve aimed to find tutorials which cover a number of differnt tips and techniques but there a…

Last week we came across a collaboration between bubblers Cathal and Wildwomenlove which we wanted to share as it’s such a wonderful demonstration of what can be achieved when two bubblers share their work and their inspiration. It all started with a short documentary on Synesthesia, which Wildwomenlove (Sharon) produced last year.

[Video]

Sharon: I just read the most awesome story this morning written by Cathal. It’s inspired by a doco I made last year at MAPS film school, on Synesthesia which in short, is a gift where people see colours for sounds and numbers. The director of the film was a fellow student who had Aspergers as well as Synesthesia. I sent it to Cathal to take a peek and it inspired him to write this gorgeous piece, "A Stranger on a Bus":http://www.redbubbl…

Another week, another jam packed wrap up of news and activity. This week saw bubblers embarking on exciting projects, planning meet ups at opposite ends of the globe, exhibiting work and celebrating some extra exposure in magazines and online. And as always, lots of bubblers have been leaving each other supportive comments and sharing advice. Here’s some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Simon Sherry}

1. Simon Sherry will be exhibiting his art alongside fantasy art legend Frank Frazetta’s work
2. Bubblers in Sydney are meeting up at the Annie Leibovitz Exhibition this weekend
3. Lynne Morris posted a reminder about next week’s Edinburgh RedBubble Meet Up
4. Jo Holden’s work is featured in this month’s Grae Magazine

_{Works by Jo Holden}

1. Renita Hatcher celebra

Drawing Day is a worldwide drawing event which encourages everyone to drop everything and draw for the sake of art and creativity. The aim is to get artists across the interweb to create and upload 1 million drawings within 24 hours. This year Drawing Day falls on Saturday the 4th of June but some extremely eager bubblers have already been asking if we’re taking part. Does a one legged duck swim in a circle? Of course we are! Not only are we already sharpening our pencils, we have quite an exciting challenge we think you might be interested in.

RedBubble artists have always been great supporters of Drawing Day and this year the organisers are offering you the chance to design an alternative Drawing Day logo which will appear on Drawing Day merchandise. You can enter the challen…

Occasionally you come across someone who not only creates inspirational work, but is also a great speaker, teacher and thinker. Milton Glaser is an artist and graphic designer who never fails to make us think more deeply about art, design, the work we produce and our own creativity. Best known for his iconic ‘I ♥ New York’ campaign, Milton Glaser has been an influential figure and a source of inspiration in the design world since the 1950s.

His body of work includes graphic design, advertising and corporate identity but he has also studied fine art and painting and has been the subject of exhibitions at a number of galleries worldwide, including the MoMA in New York and the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris. His approach to art and design is a reminder of how it’s often …

It’s been two weeks since we rolled out Collections and by now most of you have had time to take them for a spin, chew things over and send us some well considered and constructive feedback. We’ll go into more detail about your feedback and some of the adjustments we’ve already made below, but firstly we’d like to give you some background info on our approach to building Collections.

_{Works from Mojca Savicki’s Street Collection}

Of all the ideas and suggestions fired our way, an easier way to sort and categorise your work has been by far the most requested feature. In addition, we were getting to the point where a system which allowed you select a custom order for each work in your entire portfolio was beginning to break more often for more people, particul…

It’s been another busy week on RedBubble. Lots of artists are planning exhibitions, starting new projects, sharing tips and offering loads of support, encouragement and advice to other artists. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Helen Amyes}

1. Helen Amyes’ work with be on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
2. Jurgen Dabeedin is part of an exhibtion in Berkshire, UK
3. Brad Michael Moore’s work will be part of the 17th Annual Texas National Exhibition
4. Peter Lusby Taylor will be part of an exhibition in Newbury, UK in July

_{Works by Peter Lusby Taylor}

1. Robert Knapman’s work was published on on-line creative arts journal, Verity La
2. Terry Everson’s work was published in a Blue Mountains tourist newspaper
3. missyjennyb won a poetry compet

While noseying about on the interweb the other day we came across this inspiring little video celebrating the art of macro. It got us thinking about all the talented macro photographers on RedBubble and so we thought we’d whip up a post highlighting some of your work and sharing a few tips for those who have always wondered how it’s done and what’s involved. But first you should watch this small slice of inspiration because it’s only two minutes long and it’s quite lovely.

[Video]

Macro photography is traditionally describes images which have a 1:1 ratio (or higher) between image size on the sensor and subject size but the term is also used to describe close up images of small objects. These images are usually taken using macro lenses or using the macro setti…

Tuesday the 8th of March marks the centenary of International Women’s Day and to mark the occasion, events are taking place in more than 100 countries. International Women’s Day is a celebration of respect and appreciation for women the world over, an opportunity to celebrate their achievements and to reflect on the social, political and economic issues women face today and in the future. The day is an official holiday in over 20 countries including Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Laos, Madagascar, Mongolia, Montenegro, Russia, Uganda, Ukraine, Vietnam and Zambia.

RedBubble is home to many talented artists whose art and writing highlight issues faced by women. There are a number of groups dedicated to celebrating women artists or discussing feminist issues and sharing works…

It’s been another busy week on RedBubble. Lots of bubblers are making plans to meet up, exhibiting their work, embarking upon new projects, sharing tips and advice and offering bucket loads of support and encouragement to other artists. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Steph Granshaw}

1. Steph Granshaw’s work was featured in design and illustration annual, Curvy 2010
2. ArtPear’s work was selected for a juried exhibition
3. Melbourne Writers are meeting up this Sunday
4. James Guinevan Seymour is exhibiting his work in Co.Cork, Ireland

_{Works by James Guinevan Seymour}

1. Ozjami produced a recorded reading of one of lolowe’s written works
2. The Wandering Boo and patjila worked on a collaboration
3. Mary Campbell shared some tips on enhancing your images with Photo

In our post on writing fiction last week, one of the writers spoke about the importance of writing daily, not just for pleasure or to meet a deadline, but as practice which will ultimately help you improve your writing skills. Just a footballer may focus on specific areas of their game in a training session, there are exercises which writers and artists can set themselves as practice. These exercises can be valuable as they not only allow us to work on improving specific techniques, they also free us from the constraints and pressures of creating works for an audience. Today we’re going to take a look at some simple drawing exercises.

Contour Drawing (or continuous line drawing) is a technique which is great for loosening up your linework and developing hand eye coordination. Th…

This challenge has now closed. Thanks to everyone who took part!

Today’s mini challenge is dedicated to the unnoticed models all around us. They look on patiently as the dog, the kids, the flowers from the market and numerous props and household objects all get their time in the limelight. They wait for the moment when you might have the time to focus on the smaller details or to look at your surroundings through different eyes.

Over the next few days, we’d like you to go hunting for some new anthropomorphic friends. The task is to seek out creative inspiration in even the most mundane or familiar surroundings. Keep your eyes peeled for the faces in household appliances, beaming buildings, laughing letterboxes and winking windows. We want you to capture their p…

Another week, another jam packed wrap up of news and activity from artists on RedBubble. We’ve spotted insightful discussions, some interesting projects and initiatives and a bunch of achievements we’re really quite impressed by. Plus bubblers offering a ton of support and encouragement for each other’s efforts. Here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by just a few of the hosts featured in the Host Hullabaloo}

This week the hard working hosts of the Solo Exhibition group launched the Host Hullabaloo as a way of showing appreciation of hosts on RedBubble. The Hullabaloo is a series of virtual exhibitions showcasing work from some of the artists who generously give their time hosting groups on RedBubble. It’s a fabulous initiative. Congrats …

Big Think is a wonderful source of knowledge, ideas and inspiration. The site features videos, articles and interviews with people who are considered experts or leading thinkers in their respective fields. Art, design, writing, creativity and inspiration are subjects that are widely covered.

Recently, Big Think posted a series of videos entitled How to Write Great Fiction, featuring advice and tips from well known writers. RedBubble is home to a talented community of writers who we thought would appreciate the ideas shared in these clips, but their appeal isn’t limited only to wordsmiths.

The videos discuss the creative process, discipline, inspiration and audience – subjects which are of interest to many artists. There are a number of videos available but here are a f…

For many moons bubblers have wished for an easier way to arrange the work in their portfolios. You’ve dreamt of a time when the repetitive clicking of arrows is but a distant memory. A time when you can easily arrange your work by genre, theme or topic. Of all the ideas and suggestions fired our way, this has been by far the most requested feature.

After much discussing, planning, reading of feedback and suggestions, scribbling on whiteboards and magic coding voodoo, we’re excited to say that the dream is about to become reality. RedBubble’s developers have given the rest of us a sneak peek at exactly what they’ve been working on down in their secret bunker for the past few months. It turns out they weren’t playing darts after all.

Next week we’ll be…

There’s no such thing as a quiet week on the bubble and you’ve certainly been keeping busy this week. We enjoy reading through journals where artists have shared their achievements, news, tips and tricks and we’re always equally impressed by the support and encouragement offered in the comments. So without further ado, here’s just some of the action we spotted this week.

_{Works by Ana Magalhães}

1. Ana Magalhães shared some tips on adding textures to your photos
2. hsien-ku and others had a great discussion about self promotion
3. NeilAlderney was featured in a double page spread in his local newspaper
4. Lynnette Shelley signed an interntional art licensing deal
5. Both Colin Metcalf and athex’s works were exhibited at The Museum of Digital Fine Art

_{Works by Colin Metcalf} …

News agencies are reporting that the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) may be visible a little further south over the next few days due to a massive solar flare released by the sun earlier in the week. Bubblers in the higher parts of the northern hemisphere may want to keep their eyes on the skies and cameras at the ready.

The aurora borealis is caused when gas particles expelled in solar flares interact with elements in the earth’s atmosphere. Different colors are determined by which atom is struck, and the altitude of the meeting. This article explains how the colors are created in greater detail.

[Video]

The Washington Post is reporting good chances of sightings in New England and the Great Lakes and further north. Their article also features bubbler Paul Alsop…

Liu Bolin is a performance artist from Shandong in China who paints himself in order to disappear into the environment around him. At first glance, it’s difficult to believe that this isn’t some sort of digital editing trickery but creating these images is a painstakingly long process which involves a number of collaborators. It sometimes takes an entire day just to set up each shot.

The inspiration for the series came when his artist studios were shut down by the Chinese authorities to make way for Olympic development. According to Liu, The Chinese government had also expressed that it did not want artists gathering and working together. Liu’s describes his works as a silent protest. He also hopes they make people think about their place in the world and the enviro…

We recently stumbled upon the work of Pete Eckert, a Sacramento photographer and visual artist who decribes his creative process as ‘learning how to see again’. These short films feature Pete and other blind photographers discussing their art, the limitations of blindness and the unique perspective that this gives them when it comes to their creativity. Truly inspiring stuff.

[Video]

[Video]

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The fine people at Adobe® are giving bubblers chance to win over $5000 worth of prizes including 4 copies of Adobe Photoshop CS5 and a copy of Adobe CS5 Design Premium. All you need to do is put your best Photoshop skills to work and enter your most imaginative photo manipulations in the Adobe® Photoshop CS5 ‘Imaginify’ Challenge utilising the marvellous new features of CS5.

ENTER HERE!

To check out what’s new and take CS5 for a test run, Adobe have provided us with a free 30 day trial version which you can download and use to create your challenge images. That’s right folks. You get to play with Photoshop CS5 for free. Everyone’s a winner!

Adobe Photoshop CS5 features a load of new tools which will no doubt have an impact on the way we work with digital ima…

Another seven days, another bumper list of news, tips and inspiration from hard working bubblers. You’ve certainly had a busy week! So without further ado, here are just some of the excellent things we spotted around the bubble this week …

_{Works by Pascale Baud}

1. French bubbler Pascale Baud’s work is part of an exhibition in Sydney
2. Betty Northcutt is exhibiting her work in Longview, Texas
3. Lynne Morris and other bubblers are organising a meet up in Edinburgh in March
4. David Allen shared some tips on using layer styles in Photoshop
5. Valerie J Yelk celebrated her first paid photography gig

_{Works by Valerie J Yelk}

1. Cynthia Harris shared some great pics from the recent Tassie Bubblers gorge walk
2. LTPhotography is opening a shop/gallery in the South Laines in Brighton, UK
3. Esther Moliné a

In 2007, while working alone in a once busy darkroom, artist Richard Nicholson realised it may not be too long before much of the technology he was using became obsolete. So he embarked on a project to shoot images of professional darkrooms around London. When he began there were 204 darkrooms but as he neared the end of the project in 2010, only 8 remained.

His images are part of an exhibition called Analog: Trends in Sound and Picture currently running at The Riflemaker in London. The exhibition celebrates analog film, photography and music production and ponders it’s future. If you’re unable to visit the exhibition, a number of the darkroom images can be seen on Richard’s website.

The UK’s Guardian newspaper has also posted this video which gives us a sneak pr…

Anyone who has attempted to view a famous artwork or attended a major exhibition may be familiar with the term ‘gallery rage’. Only a few weeks ago visitors were complaining about the scrums at the Gauguin Exhibition in London as a record number of visitors tried to get a decent view of the works. But last week’s launch of the Google Art Project offers an alternative way to view some of the world’s most famous artworks, in greater detail and with a better view than you would often achieve when viewing these works in person.

_{High Resolution Botticelli – The Birth of Venus. Image copyright Google and The Uffizi Gallery}

_{High Resolution Van Gogh – The Starry Night. Image copyright Google and MoMA}

_{High Resolution Cézanne – Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat.}…

It’s been another busy week on RedBubble. After last week’s post, lots of bubblers penned journals showing us the processes behind their work and we’ve particularly enjoyed reading these. So without further ado, here are just some of the excellent things we spotted around the bubble this week …

_{Works by manimalee}

1. manimalee’s work is going to be featured in a BBC series starting in April
2. Barbara Glatzeder showed us the process behind a recent work
3. Tyson Battersby shared tips he learned while shooting lightning over two nights
4. Mark Richards shared some simple ideas for promoting your work

_{Works by Mark Richards}

1. juznobsrvr shared some tips on tweaking lighting effects in PhotoShop Elements
2. Grant Bissett invited bubblers to contribute a frame to an animated music video
3. Adria

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year. 2011 is the year of the rabbit so we thought we’d mark the occasion with a collection of art created in honour of our favourite lop eared, furry little fellows. According to some chinese zodiac guides, those born in the year of the the rabbit are creative, expressive, compassionate, sensitive, talented and ambitious. And quite partial to carrots (ok, we made that last one up). Rabbits have inspired all types of art on the bubble, from printmaking and painting to design and illustration:

These are just a few of the rabbit inspired works that have caught our eye. You can find even more rabbity goodness or share your own rabbit masterpieces in the in the Rabbit! Rabbit! or Pet Rabbits groups.

To all bubbler…

Today is RedBubble’s fourth birthday and in keeping with the tradition of all good four year old birthday parties, we’re going to ingest too many e-numbers, then run around the office in circles until we burst into tears or our Mums arrive to pick us up. And we’d like to invite you to join us in the celebrations.

To help us get in the party spirit, we’d like to see your favourite birthday photos. Blowing out candles, opening mountains of gifts, sporting spectacular face paint – that sort of thing. Your picture can be from any birthday celebration, just so long as it isn’t too recent and preferably if it contains a haircut you’re reluctant to own up to.

xxx THE FOLLOWING CHALLENGE HAS NOW CLOSED xxx And of course it wouldn’t be a…

We’ve all got that little voice of doubt in our minds. The voice that reminds us about the projects we never finished, that asks us whether we’re really good enough or compares our work to that of other artists. If we manage to push it aside while we’re creating something wonderful, it’s bound to be back, beating on the door when it comes to sharing our creations with others.

This voice motivates some artists to work harder but for many, these feelings of doubt can discourage us from either actively promoting our work or simply sharing our creativity with others. When we examine what it is that stops us from sharing our art with more people, we often find that some hurdles aren’t that difficult to overcome and that there are plenty of things we can do to help build more confid…

It’s been another busy week on RedBubble. Lots of bubblers are sharing tips and advice, preparing for exhibitions, creating fantastic new artwork and working hard on gaining a little more exposure for their creative efforts. Here are just some of the excellent things we spotted around the bubble this week …

_{Works by Martine Roch}

1. Martine Roch’s work was featured on the lostateminor blog
2. Tigersoul’s work was published in Euro Weekly News and The Majorca Daily Bulletin
3. Tabitha Jones and Shannon Rene’ Justice’s art impressed Twighlight’s Chaske Spencer
4. Jaclyn Hughes and others had fun experimenting with Apophysis tutorials

_{Works by Jaclyn Hughes}

1. mikmcdade shared the progress of a design
2. Tania Rose shared her thoughts on the benefits of creative partnerships
3. Rand

Kyle Tezak’s project The Four Icon Challenge is a perfect example of deceptively simple but clever visual communication. Kyle has set himself the task of summing up some of his favourite books and films using only four icons:

It takes good conceptual skills to successfully communicate a message using only the simplest of shapes. Graphic artists across the internet have embarked on their own minimalist takes on movie posters, book covers and pop culture icons, fine tuning their visual communications skills in the process. Some of our favourite examples include:

_{Pedro Vidotto’s Minimal Film Posters}

_{Eric Slager’s Minimalist Muppets}

_{Olly Moss’s Minimalist Movie Posters}

_{Albert Exergian’s Popular TV shows}

A Mini Challenge: We’d like you to try your hand at creatin…

You’re right Sadie. We have no idea who the heck you are but your enthusiasm, ability to get straight to the point and unashamed pride in your own drawings has reminded us that some optimism and a little encouragement can go a long way. Wise words from such a pint sized creative talent.

[Video]

This video was first uploaded in 2007 but has gone viral over the past few months. At close to 200,000 views the message seems to have struck a chord, even with those who don’t usually find themselves taking advice from someone so young or so overly enthusiastic. We thought it was worth sharing.

_{(via lostateminor)}

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It’s been another busy week on RedBubble. Lots of bubblers are making plans to meet up, exhibiting their work, embarking upon new projects and sharing tips and advice to help others out. Without further ado, here are just some of the excellent things we spotted around the bubble this week …

_{Works by Trish Mistric}

1. Trish Mistric’s work will be part of an exhibition at Austin City Hall in Texas
2. Sally Djurovich is exhibiting her work in Yarra Glen in Victoria
3. Dana DiPasquale’s work appeared on Desperate Housewives

_{Works by Dana’s DiPasquale}

1. Bubblers from Dubbo are arranging to meet up
2. Philip Johnson shared a great resource for HDR fans
3. The idea behind this challenge impressed the socks off us
4. oddoutlet embarked on the 365 unedited project

_{Works by oddoutlet}

1. Helen Dearnley

Photo manipulation describes the application of a wide range of editing techniques. These techniques can be used to create complex, multilayered images or to make more subtle enhancements to your work. No matter what your style, the skills for basic photo manipulation are handy for any artist to have in their arsenal. RedBubble is home to many talented photo manipulators so to kick start proceedings, here are some amazing examples of photo manipulation we’ve spotted around the bubble:

In a recent post, we asked bubblers which subjects you’d like to learn more about and a number of artists said they were keen to enhance their photo manipulation skills, so we’ve pulled together a few tutorials we’ve found around the web which should help you to ge…

To: All Bubblers
From: Mr Baxter
Subject: Help Needed

Hello Bubble World,

Yesterday when flicking through my Rolodex I was horrified to realise I have just under one month to arrange something fancy that will knock Mrs Baxter’s pantihose off on Valentine’s Day (metaphorically speaking). Last year I gave her a set of screwdrivers, a garden hose and a half eaten Snickers. To say she was unimpressed would be putting it mildly. Instead of staggering blindly through the minefield of hearts, flowers and romance, I have decided that the future of the Baxter marriage is far safer in your capable hands. So I need your help to find some excellent art with a romantic flavour to adorn our walls. If you can show me your suggestions in the comments below, that would be lovely.

Please donR…

While browsing the Guardian website over the weekend we came across some breathtaking aerial photography by artist J Henry Fair which we just had to share. The images are taken from a plane at around 1,000 feet and show the impact of industry on the environment.

In an artist statement on his website, J Henry Fair says “At first, I photographed “ugly” things; which is, in essence, throwing the issue in people’s faces. Over time, I began to photograph all these things with an eye to making them both beautiful and frightening simultaneously, a seemingly irreconcilable mission, but actually quite achievable given the subject matter. These are all photographs of things I have found in my explorations. Other than standard photographic adjustments of contrast, they are unmodified.”

_A…

It’s been another busy week on RedBubble. Once we’d managed to drag ourselves away from all the scribbling we were impressed by just how much good stuff you were journaling about. So without further ado, here are just some of the excellent things we spotted this week …

_{Works by Lisa Hayward}

1. Lisa Hayward shared some inspirational quotes about art
2. A bunch of UK bubblers are meeting up near Tavistock in Devon on Sunday 30th January
3. samedog finished his work for The Sketchbook Project
4. Kasia Nowak reached the finals in the Wanderlust Travel Photo of the Year competition

_{Works by Kasia Nowak}

1. Cynthia Harris wants to know if Tassie bubblers would like to meet up
2. Tim Andrew is having a solo exhibiton in Sydney
3. Zolton told us why sharing her creativity is important
4. David Barneda’s

We first learnt about the Scribbler tool yesterday in a journal by Lynnette Shelley. It’s a whole truck load of fun and we’re just a little addicted. It looks like were not the only ones. Drawings made using the Scribbler tool are cropping up all over the bubble and as Lynette’s journal demonstrates, it’s so easy to use, you can create a mini masterpiece in only 15 seconds. That pretty much wipes out all the excuses we can think of not to give it a try!

Mr Baxter is usually a little shy when it comes to drawing but he whipped up his own version of the RedBubble logo in under a minute and is now totally addicted. We can’t get him to go home to his wife. Here are some more inspired scribbles from bubblers who may now also be neglecting their families:

If…

This weekend we finally took down the decorations and packed the cards away, vacuumed up the last of the pine needles, had a little tidy in the kitchen, sorted out the drawer that has all those bits of paperwork sticking out … and three hours later we found ourselves staring at our wardrobe with a steely look of determination.

Many people get the impulse for this kind of cleaning and sorting in spring (others never do at all) but we decided a new year wardrobe detox was just what we needed. So it’s a good thing Nick Foster has devised this extremely useful flow chart to assist us with the decision making involved in organising our vast collection of t-shirts. (Click on the image to see a bigger version).

The lifecycle of our t-shirts is usually a long one. While the undershir…

Some bubblers may remember that we used to publish a weekly wrap from the Community account, celebrating the big news and small wins we’d spotted around the bubble each week. We had to pop the wrap on ice for a while but we’ve missed hearing your highlights so we’ve polished it off and have decided to give it a little more limelight as part of the RedBubble blog. We thought it might be a little quieter around here post festive season but you’ve been quite busy it would seem! So without further ado, here are just some of the excellent things we’ve spotted this week …

_{Works by Kate Orth}

1. Kate Orth shared some commentary on a recent series of paintings
2. Anne-Marie Ladegaard got some great advice on purchasing a budget macro lense
3. 365 Notepads is looking for

We are lucky to have some very talented artists and writers who seem to effortlessly inspire others with their thoughts, ideas and concepts and we love seeing a group of bubblers take a concept and interpret it in different ways. Some of our favourite moments in bubble history have arisen as result of artists sharing great ideas or collaborating on projects. The process of bouncing around ideas with others can result in some interesting work and it’s a great opportunity to connect with other artists. We think there should be loads more of it so we’d like to invite you to join us in taking part in a small project.

We’d like to hear from artists, writers, photographers and designers who are willing to offer other bubblers a slice of creativity to use as a starting poin…

To say that Kiel Johnson has a soft spot for cardboard would be an understatement. Kiel makes amazing works of art from paper and cardboard and his projects demonstrate incredible attention to detail. Kiel finds inspiration in all manner of objects from cameras and musical instruments to boomboxes and microphones. He’s even created a printing press.

Below are just a few of his creations but we’d urge you to go and take a look at his website. Kiel generously provides us with lots of information on how these works are created and his website features some great behind the scenes images from his workshop. This video showing the creation of his cardboard twin lens reflex camera is well worth watching. They ended up turning it into a working pinhole camera and taking some photogra…