The Journal Entries

3546 creative works found

• Everything
• Images
• T-Shirts
• Writing
• Journals

• Release notes - Bulk Deleteting BubbleMail and a Preview of the RedBubble Private Site
  by RedBubble

  Hello! Another week another RedBubble release. This week there’s a couple of new things – the ability to bulk delete BubbleMail and…

  Hello! Another week another RedBubble release. This week there’s a couple of new things – the ability to bulk delete BubbleMail and a sneak preview of a the RedBubble ‘private site’. The private site is designed to allow you to create a site showcasing just your work. The thinking behind the private site is that RedBubble needs to evolve into a much more dynamic website. Everyone wants different things from RedBubble. Some folks are here for the learning, some are here to sell, some are here for the positive feedback, some are here to be entertained. Et cetera. We’re never going to be able to create one static site that satisfies all needs, so over the next little while we’re going to evolve RedBubble into a much more dynamic site that people can tailor and adapt to suit their needs. The private site is still a few weeks away from public release, but we’ve got a very very early beta product ready for today and I’ll like to show you all an example and ask for your feedback. The example site can be found here and I’d particularly value general feedback on the new configuration menu which appears to the right of the large images (the menu is still a work in progress) and the options you’d like to see us offer in the private site as we build it out over the next couple of weeks. And finally we stumbled across this review of RedBubble a couple of days ago. We love these reviews and they’re great for improving the Google rank of RedBubble and all the work on RedBubble. So if you feel like writing about RedBubble please ‘go nuts’. The more links back to RedBubble the better. You might also want to check out all the tools for linking to RedBubble available here. Have a great week! Peter

• The Porcelain Skin Effect in Photoshop
  by Julie Langford

  I have been asked by many people via comments, and directly, how I get the clear skin effect on my *Portraits...

  I have been asked by many people via comments, and directly, how I get the clear skin effect on my Portraits / . So, as I am now a leader in the Photoshop Help group, along with my good buddy Faizan Qureshi – I thought I would kick off my participation with this brief tutorial on how it is done. / / This was done in Photoshop CS2, but as the effect only uses the standard Photoshop tools, most if not all versions of the program will suffice for this tutorial. / / First things first, you will need a file to work on. The settings in this tutorial are based on the low resolution starting image here, and if you use higher resolution images – the settings will be different. / / You may right click and save the starting image below and use it to work through this tutorial to practise – you may also upload your finished work into your portfolio for feedback and to show others how you did – You MUST not, however, place the image for sale, or use it for any other purpose other than this tutorial, without my permission / / So, follow the steps and have some fun with this. / / 1. Save the image below and open it in Photoshop / / Starting Image / / startmodel / / / 2. On the toolbar on the left hand side, click on the healing tool / / healing brush tool / / Use the following settings for the healing brush / / healing brush tool settings / / / 3. Zoom in on the model so that you can see imperfections on the skin. Hold Alt on your keyboard and click on an area of skin close to an imperfection once – release the mouse and the Alt key / / healing brush step 1 / / / 4. Click the mouse again over the imperfection that you want to hide, once / / healing brush step 2 / / / 5. Repeat the last two steps until you have removed all the imperfections, until the image looks similar to the one below. / / model after healing brush applied / / / 6. Down on the right hand corner of the Photoshop workspace – you will find the layer pallette – Have a look – you will notice that there is one layer called background, or Layer 1 in the pallette at the moment. / / The Photoshop layer palette / / / 7. Go to the menu bar running across the top of the workspace – click on the word – Layer, then click on Duplicate Layer. A box will appear, just click OK. Notice that a new layer, called layer 1, or background copy now appears in the layer pallette above the background layer. Make sure that this top layer is highlighted/selected / / 8. Just above the highlighted layer, there is a drop down menu [which probably has the word Normal in it at the moment]. Click that drop down menu and click on multiply. / Multiplying the layer / / / your image will go very dark like the one blow. Model after multiply / / / Still working on this same layer / / 9. On the menu bar running across the top – click on the word Filter, then on Blur, then on Gaussian Blur – a box will appear. Change the settings to that below and click OK to apply the effect. / / Blur settings / Your image will now look like the one below / / model after blur applied / 10. Go to the top menu again, and click on the word Layer, then on New Adjustment Layer, then on Levels – a box will appear. Adjust the settings to that in the image below. / / Levels adjustment settings / / / Your image should now look like the one below / / Model after the levels adjustment / / / Note here that you now have 3 layers in the layer pallette. You will need to be working on the MIDDLE layer [see below] for the next step, so make sure it is selected. / / Selection of the middle layer for the next step / / / 11. On the toolbar on the left, click on the History Brush to select it history brush tool / / / On the top toolbar menu, set your brush to a small soft brush [so that you can fit it into the corner of the eyes], and set the opacity to 25 / / All in one stroke [thats important with low opacity] paint over one eye totally to bring the detail and brightness back out. Repeat for the other eye, and then for the lips. / / The effect is quite subtle here, but it will make a big difference at the end of the tutorial and will give life to your model. / / Your image should now look similar to the one below / / model after history brush / / / 12. Now go to the menu up the top and click on the word Layer, then click on Flatten image – this will result in you having one layer in your layer pallette again. / / Ok – so your model has great skin now, but she is a bit on the bright side. We are going to darken her up a bit, but if we just do it now, she will likely turn orange with the current saturation level. so we need to adjust it a little. / / 13. Go to the menu up the top and click on the word Image, then Adjustment, then Hue/Saturation – a box will appear. change the settings to that below. / / hue/saturation settings / / / The image should now look a better colour model after hue/saturation settings applied / / / Now lets darken her up / / 14. Up to the top menu again – click on the word Image, then Adjustment, then Levels – the levels box will appear. Change the settings to that in the image below. / / Levels adjustment settings / / / Your image should now look much darker / / model after levels adjustment applied / / / Finally – we need to bring out highlights and for this we use the dodge tool. / / 15. Over on the toolbar on the left, click on the dodge tool to select it / / dodge tool / / / Use a soft large brush [about the size of her whole cheek], set the opacity to 18 and work on highlights in the drop down menu [up the top]. Click and drag once across the eye area, then once down the models right cheek to brighten these areas up. / / Your image is now complete and should look something like this / / finished model / / / I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. The settings will be slightly different with other images of different resolutions but the methods will be the same. When adjusting levels blur etc on other images, use the sliders to get similar looking effects to what you used here and the effects will work nicely for you. / / Good luck everyone, Please come back here and let me know how you got on.

• The year ahead ...
  by RedBubble

  We spent most of January catching our breath and thinking about the year ahead. We’re not entirely done with out thinking – because the …

  We spent most of January catching our breath and thinking about the year ahead. We’re not entirely done with out thinking – because the devil’s always in the details. But there are a few outcomes I’d like to share. We think we need to communicate ‘more betterer’. We’re often so busy ‘doing’ that we forget to tell you what’s going on and why we’re doing particular things. So we’ll try to be better and more regular communicators. The way we view RedBubble is that we’re in a partnership with the artists on the site. This influences every element of our thinking. And the partnership works like this – we take care of the boring back of house work to free people up to concentrate on their art / writing – and marketing themselves. We solve hard boring problems that individually are very difficult to solve (e.g. manufacturing and shipping goods around the world). But we can’t do everything. We’re a team of 16 – and we’re flat out. Over the next eighteen months we want to grow this to a team of 30 – but even then we won’t be able to do all the things we want. We want to involve you in RedBubble. For example, we’d love to be more involved in selling your work – but the reality is that out of the 16 people in the company now only one has a sales focused role. So we need your help to sell your work. And I think you’ll be far better sales people than we could ever be – but what we can do is to provide the tools / advice to make the selling process easier. This is one of the things we’ll be working on this year. Better tools and advice. Better products. Sales features. I am completely inspired by wikipedia. I’m inspired by the fact that it’s trusting and it works. And this is what I want RedBubble to be – a trusting site. Over the course of the year we want to hand over control of the site to the members of the site. Just like wikipeadia. So if you’re keen to get involved there’ll be lots of opportunities! And this trust needs to extend very deeply – this year we’re going to be very open with our thinking and internal numbers. Our view is that open communication is essential to a healthy partnership. For example, for those of you who wonder about the financial side of things – the current profit margin on the RB base price is 10%. Over the course of this year we’ll be looking to improve our logistics to increase this to 23%. With this money we need to pay all our expenses – staff salary, equipment et cetera. Here’s a quick snapshot of the RB team and our jobs (to give you a sense of what we’re all doing day-to-day) : Xavier – Website builder / Justin – Website builder and thinker / Hop – Answers e-mails and chases up orders / Bridget – Does the books / Ben – Website builder / Tom – Looks after logistics / Ed – Looks after t-shirts / Dave Cheney – Keeps the computers running / Fran – Looks after writing / John – Website builder / Jo – People stuff on the site / Dave Librach – Groups and other people related stuff on the site / Martin – Thinker / Peter – Bus driver and everything else / Grant – Website builder and seller of stuff / Paul – Makes things look beautiful Thoughts, comments, feedback all welcome. Most importantly, are we heading on the right track? Peter

• InternetLove or 'How we learned that you're the best community we could have hoped for, Anne van Alkemade in particular'
  by RedBubble

  2.14pm – Wednesday afternoon The keys on this plastic alphabet are sticky. The seat has no back and the minutes are expensive. The sub…

  2.14pm – Wednesday afternoon The keys on this plastic alphabet are sticky. The seat has no back and the minutes are expensive. The sub audible hum of ten thousand anxious people reverberate through the terminal floor. The timeless neon glow of Gates 31-40, Baggage Claim, Toilets and a Foodcourt burn into my pores. A voice informs me that Mr Nigel Sankey should really hurry along to Gate 36, because all the people already wedged onto the plane are getting seriously annoyed. In another life our original flight had not suffered the generic ‘engineering difficulties’ and we were already home, but in this life we were destined to spend half a day in Sydney airport at an internet cafe, so still in this life I wrench the keyboard from a neighbouring computer and walk resolutely towards the mannequins at the Virgin Service Desk, a blank look in my eye. / How did it come to this? 7.55am – Earlier that same day El Presidente and I burst into the breakfast room of the Shangri La hotel in Sydney, where NetGuide are holding the ceremony of their yearly internet awards. The room goes slightly quiet, the dog in the corner ceases playing the piano, and the 100% suited and booted occupants turn to look at these last minute arrivals, one in a vibrant red limited edition RedBubble tee, the other in a faux-Napoleonic military jacket. I wave my cane in the direction of some empty seats and we take our place between the MD of eBay and a man from the Bureau of Meteorology. A general air that we may be ‘chancers’ prevails. The ceremony begins, and decorum is held in fine corporate silence, broken by an intermittent golf clap as another nervous individual waddles up to claim their glass shard. The 14th prize is for Best New Site, and it is won by a company called Web Menu, but also has a Highly Commended Category, which RedBubble wins. None of the other categories really have second place awards, and so we still appear like we are here for the free breakfast. The final two awards, however, are a little more prestigious, and they begin with the ‘People’s Choice’ which NetGuide are very proud of, and after building it up to unprecendented heights they announce that RedBubble has conquered it without question. You can hear the room inhale in unison, then vigourously clap. Afterwards everyone was very friendly, coming over to congratulate and talk details, I was even accosted by one man in the gents but I requested he wait until I finish, I think he had something to do with the ceremony. We hand out some t-shirts and greetings cards and even some bubbles, which could be seen floating around the room towards the end of the event. 9.45am After a suitably cheesy photoshoot, we jump into a taxi and head for the airport and hopefully, a quick flight home. —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—— I’d just like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the whole team, to thank all of you, and not just all of you who managed to read this whole post, or even all of you who voted for us, but ALL of you. Because you really do make this site as vibrant as it is, without you we’re nothing, well, not nothing, we’d be a bunch of nerds in a room with some flashy computers and an endless biscuit supply, but I don’t think there’s an award for that. / So thanks and don’t stop now, we’re just getting warmed up. onetonshadow, and everybody else Oh and big up to NetGuide for the whole event, bacon and free mousemats, here’s what they have to say about it Addendum / I’d also like to thank the mighty Anne van Alkemade for stumbling across the competition in the first place and alerting our eager community. May your days be filled with fine wines and tasty cakes.

• Who's the Artist?
  by RedBubble

  Standing, looking at an artwork in a gallery recently I found myself asking, who is the artist? At one level the answer is obvious – the …

  Standing, looking at an artwork in a gallery recently I found myself asking, who is the artist? At one level the answer is obvious – the person who created the object. But the tricky bit is they may or may not be the person/s who decided it was art. A recent exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia of Aboriginal art is a case in point. The early objects on exhibit became “art” when a curator determined they were. Before that they were objects the community created to give meaning to their lives. There were no artists just the people making the works. And, I will confess here, I find the idea of being an artist a little bit diminishing. It is possible to be a lawyer because other people aren’t one (I know at least that I am not a lawyer). But if I decide I am an artist does that mean I wasn’t one before or that you aren’t one? The truth is we are all artists or at least have the potential be. And so being an artist is really little different than being human. At least if we allow ourselves to be fully human. And whether the things we make are considered to be “art” or not, I guess we will have to leave that to the critics. Martin (aka Pilgrim)

• On the role of comments ...
  by RedBubble

  I’ve been reading a couple of journal entries over the last couple of days about comments and I thought it might be useful to share RedBu…

  I’ve been reading a couple of journal entries over the last couple of days about comments and I thought it might be useful to share RedBubble’s perspective (well actually my perspective) on the topic. I think there are two principal benefits to comments on RedBubble: 1. It can provide the creator (photographer, writer, painter etc) with encouragement and affirmation … and we see this encouragement and affirmation as one of the central elements of the site. With positive reinforcement and encouragement we build up each other’s confidence to express our creative talents … and by extension we’re encouraged to expand and explore our creative expression. We’re big believers in the power of positive reinforcement – and we want to help bring creative expression back into the mainstream of our lives (and society more generally). 2. It can help us all appreciate and understand what we are looking at / reading. I often find my appreciation of a work deepens / changes when I read how other people have interpreted it. One of the misconceptions with comments is that they help drive up sales or ‘popularity’. When we looked at the relationship between sales and comments in September last year (see graph below) we found there was no relationship between the number of comments a person makes and the number of sales they make. I’ll try to run the numbers again over the next few weeks – but anecdotally I thinks still holds true. / (The graph shows total sales on the x-axis and to total comments made on the y-axis as at 26 Sep 07 for a selection of some of RB’s top sellers) One of the directions we’d prefer to avoid with commenting is for it to become some sort of competitive sport. In my mind I’d like the RedBubble experience to be about meaningful interactions. For example, when I’m giving comments I try to provide more than just a couple of words – I like to comment on how the work has impacted on me. I might spend five to ten minutes looking at a work before I comment. When someone comments on one of my works I don’t feel the need or requirement to go and comment on one of their works – but I often do them the courtesy of dropping by their work to check it out – and when I feel so moved I make a comment. I think at the end of the day it’s all about enjoying the site … if it ever becomes a burden (e.g. when you feel the need to respond to every single comment) something is not going right. My view is that if it’s not fun – folks will burn out. Anyway … they’re just my thoughts. I’d be interested on your responses / reflections. - Peter

• The road map for the next few months
  by RedBubble

  So, we said January is thinking month, yet here we are mid-Februa…

  So, we said January is thinking month, yet here we are mid-February and we’re still thinking quite a lot! It’s been incredibly valuable to us to take a step back, look at what we’re really trying to achieve here, and how we make all the pieces fit. The first thing I guess you need to know about RedBubble is that we have no shortage of ideas, and no shortage of suggestions from the community. It’s actually quite rare that we hear of a bad idea — most ideas are great, or as Xavier would say, winners. So when we’re faced with hundreds or thousands of great ideas, the challenge is deciding what’s going to solve the biggest problems for the most people, and making sure we stay true to The Big Plan. A huge part of The Big Plan is the buying and selling. Artists are happy when they sell their work, buyers are happy when they find something they want to buy. With this is in mind, we’re going going to be spending a lot of our time over the next few months looking at our products, as well as how they’re bought and how they’re sold. What does that mean? Hopefully that means… Revised wall art products We don’t think we’ve got the wall art stuff right yet, and this is going to change. Pete’s already previewed our plans for framed wall art with interchangeable matted prints, but this is just the tip of the iceberg — we have some top secret stuff wall art products we really hope we can get ready. Wall art needs to be big and we still haven’t been able to find a way to economically ship big wall art around the globe, so this is high on our list (still). Post cards Our greeting cards still need some attention, but we’re also really keen to do post cards and some other printed promotional stuff that helps the artist sell their work and promote themselves. Photo books Calendars were a roaring success (and they weren’t even publicly available for sale), so we’re pretty keen to get a photo book product out there for everyone to buy. More T-shirt options We’re keen to have more colors and styles available to the buyers, as well as more options for the artist (like front and back printing, shifting the print area around on the tee, etc). Better selling tools As Pete recently discussed in the year ahead, we feel we’re in a partnership with the artists, and we need their help to promote their work and sell it. So we want to give you tools to do that. Business cards and post cards will help, but so will some technical stuff like allowing you to have a more product-oriented profile page and some more widgets to embed in other websites. Personally, I’d really like to help other artists sell their stuff by promoting it, so that’s something we’re going to explore as well. Better buying tools Not everyone is a buyer, but for those who come to RedBubble (or to your profile) with cash in their hand looking to buy something, we want to make it really easy. Mooks and publications In addition to In The Moment (on sale in a few days) and our current competition Gaia, Fran is working hard to introduce more periodical publications in the form of Mooks (not a magazine, not quite a book, get it?) to get more of your fantastic writing and art published. Disclaimers and footnotes This is the big stuff that we really think will make a difference to RedBubble over the next few months, but it’s not a definitive list at all. There’s no guarantee we can get all of this done of course, and there’s obviously other things that we’ll need to take care of along the way, but everyone needs a plan and something to focus on. Hopefully you’re as excited about this stuff as we are! — Peter & Justin

• In The Moment Winners Announced
  by RedBubble

  *Talk about a tough decision! Our judges slaved over entries day and night to bring you these excellent choices. These will not be the on…

  Talk about a tough decision! Our judges slaved over entries day and night to bring you these excellent choices. These will not be the only winners – any works that are chosen to feature in the final publication will also be getting a $100 bubble voucher. Woo Hoo! / Read more about the In The Moment Competition here Overall Visual Art Winner / Prize: Leonardo Da Vinci’s A Treatise on Painting / or a Wacom Intuos3 12”x19” Tablet plus USD $500 RedBubble voucher Geneva Lake Divers by markhayward / There is so much going on in this picture: you have the collective spirit of youth perfectly represented by young boys in action on a hot summers day, some of the figures are lazily waiting on different parts of the tower happy to watch the others take their turn on the board, the figures in full flight are in a circular acrobatic composition and the whole picture is anchored by main figure in the foreground who wears an expression of satisfaction at the days events. Nearly every character in the picture is “in the moment”. It instantly brings back my own youth at the local swimming pool. Great composition and technically well executed. Category Winner: Photography / Prize: $200 RedBubble Voucher How Young to Understand Death by Richards / Of all the emotions experienced at a funeral, bewilderment, shock and anger are three of the most prevalent. It seems the boy in the foreground and the officer in / the middle show all three at once in this very poignant photograph of the first police funeral in Windsor, Ontario in 150 years. The viewer can feel the pain at a glance, / and then wonder what the mourners are looking at exactly. The coffin being lowered to the ground, a priest giving the eulogy, or something else peculiar to this particular service. / With a classic triangular composition this photograph carries a strong emotive, narrative and visual story. Category Winner: Traditional / Prize: $200 Redbubble Voucher Letters from Longbeach by JASHERLYNCH / The central figure is very mysterious in this very contemporary picture that puts the traditional idea of surfing as “fun” into a grimy, gritty visual context. The work is full of contrasts that makes me wonder about the state of mind of the person sending the postcard. Fortunately I can’t read the writing so i am left to make my own impression. I love the combination of mediums and the use of negative space. It is the sort of work that if I had it hanging on my bedroom wall would take me on a different emotional journey when I woke each morning. Category Winner: Digital Image / Prize: $200 RedBubble Voucher The endless walk by Geir Floede / Beautiful imagery of a person in the wilderness wearing a track in deep into the snow. She has come from offstage but looks set to walk endlessly in a circle til she / breaks free . . . or someone breaks into her world. She is definitely “in the moment”. Very understated, exceptionally powerful. Overall Writing Winner / Prize: Sylvia Plath’s The Colossus / or a Macbook 13” plus USD $300 RedBubble voucher / Fish and Chip Goodbyes by Beatnikgal Category Winner: Short Story / Prize: $200 RedBubble Voucher / Anger is an energy by Sherriff Category Winner: Poem / Prize: $200 RedBubble Voucher / A Glimpse by wishingonstars

• The Next Wave
  by RedBubble

  Companies are not Islands (to misquote Donne). They have a context. They are part of a wave, ahead of a wave or just idling along nicely….

  Companies are not Islands (to misquote Donne). They have a context. They are part of a wave, ahead of a wave or just idling along nicely. What is RedBubble’s context? It is quite possible to see RedBubble as an art site, a social network, an e-commerce site. From my perspective, none of these do justice to what you are creating. They don’t account for the passion and the energy that exists. They also don’t help explain why we have come so far, so quickly. Right now RedBubble (less than 18 months from launch) is already be the third largest art site in the world – behind only DeviantArt and Art.com. As I dwell on this, I think we are more closely related to the movement in “user generated content”. The advent of blogging has allowed millions to become active participants in the media. Likewise YouTube has emerged as a true complement to commercial television but with open access. In both phenomenon the creators and consumers of the content overlap and there is a move from the mass to the niche. It is possible to find blogs and videos that precisely match your interests from skateboarding dogs to latest Web 2.0 developments. So what about RedBubble? I think you are leading the wave of user generated art. This art is much more accessible, diverse and relevant (most of the time) to people’s myriad interests. And just as the mainstream media and TV dismissed (and dismiss) blogging and YouTube as peripheral, we are seeing such a reaction from the art world. This is understandable (albeit patronizing) reaction. It is also unnecessary. The challenge of RedBubble is that we declare everyone has the right to participate in the creation and purchase of art. This can only enrich the totality of the art and creativity in the world. This has other benefits – which I will leave for another post. Martin (aka Pilgrim) p.s. We know the site has been a little unstable over the weekend. There was some sort of attack – probably accidental – and problems with image loading. These are largely resolved although there is ongoing work. Thanks to everybody who let us know.

• The moment for In The Moment is approaching
  by RedBubble

  The In The Moment full colour journal will go on sale to members on February 29th Only…

  The In The Moment full colour journal will go on sale to members on February 29th Only 1000 copies will ever exist, showcasing some of the most amazing art and writing on RedBubble. I have seen the design layouts already and it is a stunning book. (The collector geek in me is crying with happiness) It will officially go on sale at 12 noon GMT on February 29th. / If you are published in the journal as an artist or a writer, you will receive one complimentary copy along with a $200 RedBubble voucher. The rest of us will have to part with AU$29.95 In the spirit of giving our RedBubble family the best odds of snatching up this splendiferous journal, we are not advertising it in any external media, only here on the site directly to you. And in the spirit of fairness, there is a maximum of two copies per order, and the numbered copies will be distributed at random. Next Thursday we will reveal which works have been published in the final journal and give you detailed information on how to purchase your own copy of In The Moment. Fran and Jo

• The thinking behind 'play nice'
  by RedBubble

  RedBubble is very deliberately trying to cultivate a ‘play nice’ mentality. The reasoning behind this is that we want RedBubble to be an…

  RedBubble is very deliberately trying to cultivate a ‘play nice’ mentality. The reasoning behind this is that we want RedBubble to be an encouraging environment. As I wrote about a few days ago we think that everyone’s inherently creative and we want to foster an environment that draws out this creativity. And it’s working. We’ve received a number of e-mails from RedBubblers writing about how they have rediscovered their creative passion because of the interactions they have on RedBubble. Don’t underestimate the power of the positive comments you make! For those of you who want more than encouragement – fear not we have options for you – and there are more options to come. We have a critique forum that we’re encouraging people to use for constructive criticism. And we’re planning to build a ‘learning centre’ to help people to develop their creative skills. (Incidentally – the reason for separating out the critique forum from general comments on a work is that not everyone is ready for constructive criticism. We think exposure to criticism should be an opt in process – and must be quite carefully managed. Things can quickly get out of hand in interactions over the Internet – as we don’t have all the non-verbal cues that moderate our behaviour in face-to-face interactions. So criticism must be carefully managed). And finally, we think that creating a positive and encouraging environment in RedBubble doesn’t equate with accepting mediocrity or avoiding improvement. Rather we aim for RedBubble to be a place to encourage and inspire development. My first job after university was with the Army, where people would often be shouted into improvement – well let me just say that RedBubble is NOT like this! Everyone will develop / learn / change at their own pace – when they’re ready. As always – your comments and views are welcome … - Peter

• RedBubble Post Card - Everyone's an artist
  by RedBubble

  Hello fellow bubblers, I thought it might be useful if we tried to give you an insight into the ‘mind of RedBubble’ – every now and th…

  Hello fellow bubblers, I thought it might be useful if we tried to give you an insight into the ‘mind of RedBubble’ – every now and then. To give you an understanding of what makes us tick. One of the key ideas underpinning RedBubble is that ‘everyone’s an artist’. Let me restate part of our very first journal post “People are inherently creative. Deep down, most of us love to come up with new ideas, express who we are, or take a different perspective on the world around us. This is particularly true of children. Remember chalk on the footpath, crayon on the walls, or a painting stuck proudly to the fridge with a magnet. Kids love stories, they love learning about new things, they ask obvious yet somehow overlooked questions. So why don’t many of us focus on our creative interests as adults? Is there something about the process of growing up that changes us, that convinces us to be serious and sensible? Do we lose the ability to be creative? Or does it just get buried amidst the responsibilities, worries and priorities of adult life? Look closer, though, and you’ll see sparks of creativity in adults everywhere. Since starting our RedBubble journey, we’ve been amazed at how many of our close friends have “confessed” to a secret creative hobby, a little spark of creativity that few else know about. Look at the statistics and the picture is clearer still. Over 2.5 million Australians regularly take part in some sort of creative or cultural activity. Almost 90% do this entirely for free, for the simple enjoyment of it. A fortunate few earn a living from it, but most keep their creative spark alive in their own time and without sharing it with the world. RedBubble was founded with a burning desire to improve this situation. And there are some major social and technological trends helping us out.“ We openly want to embrace a wide variety of material on RedBubble, from a wide variety of people – from professional artists to emerging artists to people just discovering their artistic side. We don’t want to place more limits or barriers in the way of people – life has enough barriers – so we’ve tried to keep RedBubble as open as possible. This is why we haven’t placed any upload limits on the site and why we don’t vet content before it’s published. We’ve recently received feedback from the community that such an open approach has meant people might be encouraged to post ‘anything’ to RedBubble. Our thinking is that RedBubble should be the place for your best work and over the next short while we’re looking to update the site to further encourage this behaviour. But we don’t want RedBubble to become an elite only site – we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. - Peter

• In The Moment Finalists and More
  by RedBubble

  40,000 members, 1000 copies – you do the math! - Which works are being published? It’s the answer we’ve all been wai…

  40,000 members, 1000 copies – you do the math! - Which works are being published? It’s the answer we’ve all been waiting for. I’m thrilled to be able to announce all the works that have been included in limited edition journal, In The Moment. With such an outstanding level of entries, it was tough work for our judges. Each published artist and writer will receive a copy of In The Moment and a $200 RedBubble Voucher for category winners and $100 for other published works. (Individual winners will be contacted directly next week) CLICK HERE for a list of all the finalists Buying A Copy Of In The Moment At 12 noon GMT, February 29th, The limited edition journal In The Moment goes on sale. (AUD$29.95) Once released on Feburary 29th, the In The Moment button on the homepage will change. Clicking on it will take you to a purchasing screen. It’s then a matter of following the simple steps. After choosing how many copies you wish to buy you will be taken to your shopping cart. You can remove items and amend quantities before continuing. The last step is to pay for your order via paypal or credit card. Only once all steps are completed is your purchase finalised. Tip: Review and amend any items already saved in your cart before February 29th (or buy ITM without logging in to bypass your saved cart completely) News about our Gaia – The Living Planet competition In The Moment has been a mammoth effort and we are so proud of the final result. However one thing we have learned, is that having the best possible final product takes lots of time and effort. More than we expected. It takes time to create, choose and submit and entry. It takes time for judges to have a good long think and decide on the winners. Once the judging is completed, the process of designing, proofing, printing and packaging requires a lot of care, attention and time. We’d rather give you an amazing product that makes you go ‘wow,’ than rush something out the door. And we feel that we owe it to the artists being published to represent their work as best we can. Time, it’s a wonderful thing. And to give everybody more of it, we’re extending the deadline for entries to Gaia until April 16th, with the publication to come out in May. A HUGE thanks to everyone who has been a part of this journey, especially all the artists and writers who have shared their creativity. Your contribution and enthusiasm has been inspirational.

• The Thought Bubble
  by RedBubble

  The Thought Bubble is our meeting room – it’s the garage in our office. We’ve made it up to look a little more creative and enticing tha…

  The Thought Bubble is our meeting room – it’s the garage in our office. We’ve made it up to look a little more creative and enticing than a normal garage. But how times have changed. We’re in the middle of developing all the products we recently outlined in the roadmap and there’s stuff everywhere. Check out the following before and after images: Needless to say we’re working hard on the development of the new products! Here’s a photo of the back cover of In The Moment which goes on sale later today. The cover is very cool. It’s made of this heat sensitive material which is dark at room temperature and transparent when heated … revealing the cover design underneath. Well done on putting this together team! - Peter

• Introducing - The Poetry & Prose - Questions & Meanings Group
  by Suzanne German

  Hello and welcome to all Red Bubblers in this group! I am really excited about reading, exploring and debating artistic pieces of work…

  Hello and welcome to all Red Bubblers in this group! I am really excited about reading, exploring and debating artistic pieces of work that are so typical of so many talented writers on RB. A couple of rules: (1) Let’s try to keep it to 1-2 downloads per person on a daily basis to allow the work to be viewed and not flood the group page please. / (2) No stories please these are welcomed at Damien’s group – ‘Spherical Spheres’ / (3) Have fun and be as creative as you like / (4) When commenting or feeding back remember to be sensitive – artists are sensitive people! / (5) Any queries about the group – send me a Bubblemail and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Here’s to an unfolding magical journey of creativity and the inspiration that comes with being part of such a wonderful group of people! Enjoy! / Suzanne

• Photoshop Tutorial : " Under the Sheets " Displacement Maps Exposed!
  by Randy Monteith

  Hi everyone, Julie Langford asked me a few weeks back about doing Displacement Maps in Ph…

  Hi everyone, Julie Langford asked me a few weeks back about doing Displacement Maps in PhotoShop and then Darren Sharp asked me to help him out with an image he was working on. So I promised I would find the time to make a tutorial on one way I have used them in my art. Here’s an example of how I used a Displacement Map in PhotoShop The first thing we need to make is our Displacement Map. Our Displacement Map is going to help our Redbubble text follow the contours and folds of the blanket. Displacement Map Step 1: Load the original photo into PhotoShop Step 2: On the Menu choose IMAGE / ADJUSTMENTS / DESATURATE Now we have a black and white version of our original photo Step 3: From the Menu choose FILTER / BLUR / GAUSSIAN BLUR I choose a Radius value of 5 for this image Step 4: Now this is very important!!! Save this image as a .PSD file I saved mine as Displacement.psd Now to make the TEXT that we want to use like wrapping paper to follow the folds and contours of the blanket Step 5: Make some text on the screen or a flower pattern or photo or whatever you want. Here you can see i made some Redbubble text and then rotated it slightly to follow the angle of the blanket in the original photo. Important Note: Keep the size of this TEXT image the same dimensions as the original photo. Step 6: Save this TEXT image as a JPG with little or no compression at all. Putting it all together Step 7: Start a new image by opening our original Photo into PhotoShop. Step 8: Duplicate this layer LAYER / DUPLICATE Step 9: Turn off the original photo layer by clicking on the eye in the layers pallette / and then load the TEXT you made earlier as a layer above these two. So your layers palette should look something like this Step 10: Click on the TEXT layer so its highlighted to make it the active layer and click on the check box off to the left of it so the eye icon turns on and now you can see the TEXT image on your main screen. Step 11: From the Menu choose FILTER / DISTORT / DISPLACE … These are the setting that I used After you click ok it will ask you what .PSD file to load as the Displacement map. Load the file we made earlier called Displacement.psd Step 12: Now we have this distorted version of our TEXT image, but it has taken on the wrinkles and twists of our blanket and umm err our model too OOOOOOPPPs! Don’t worry we ill fix it up this is where we want to be right now. Step 13: With the TEXT layer the active layer still click on the ADD LAYER MASK icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette , indicated with the Green Arrow. This wiil create a LAYER MASK next to the TEXT Image layer shown with the RED Arrow. Layer Masks are great and wonderful things. When you paint with BLACK on them they reveal the pixels of the Layer underneath. If you make a mistake its easy to fix just change your paint colour to WHITE and then paint with white to correct your mistake. Step 14: On the TEXT layer change the Opacity of this layer to about 46% or so. / The Red arrow shows where I adjusted the opacity of the TEXT Layer. Step 15: Ok now we can see better what we want to Mask out. So Click on the Mask Layer Icon that is next to the TEXT LAYER on the LAYER palette to make sure its active. Step 16: Start painting out the girls face, the pillow and all the parts of the TEXT layer you don’t want to show on the final image. Here’s a detail shot of the Layers palette notice how the Layer Mask Icon is starting to fill up with BLACK where you started to MASK out the pixels of the TEXT LAYER. Step 17: Once you have finished masking out all the parts of the TEXT layer you don’t want showing change the OPACITY back up to 100%. Then change the LAYER BLENDING Mode to MULTIPLY for the TEXT LAYER. Here what it should look like. Step 18: Using the same techniques above, using the DISPLACEMENT technique and ad the big Redbubble text to the pillow and you will end up with this. Use a LAYER MASK and hide all the pixels of the big Redbubble text that fall on her face and hair. This will give it the appearance thats its just on the pillow. Here’s the original idea I did with this before the Redbubble version Other Tutorials On Redbubble How to make a Sketch and then a Pastel Portrait PhotoShop Tutorial : Another way to bring out details and sharpen a photo If you had fun or learned anything new here great ! It took me most of this evening to put this together. So please take some time to check out my gallery and if you wish comment on any of my artwork. Randy Monteith

• A post for all you folks in the UK
  by RedBubble

  Over the last couple of months RedBubble has been voluntarily paying all the Value Added Tax (VAT) for orders shipped to the UK (the orde…

  Over the last couple of months RedBubble has been voluntarily paying all the Value Added Tax (VAT) for orders shipped to the UK (the orders are shipped from the US and Australia). The alternative was that the courier company would demand extra money (i.e. the VAT) at delivery – and we thought that was a pretty awful customer experience so we told the courier company that we’d pay the VAT on your behalf. Anyway, RedBubble has now got an arrangement with the British government to collect and pay the VAT to HMRC. What does this mean? Well from this Thursday’s release all your purchases on RedBubble will include VAT (previously they have been VAT free). For British folks only prices on RedBubble will rise on Thursday. So you’ve got two more days to buy buy buy before the British government joins the party. I wish we didn’t have to pay tax … but it does seem to be the way of the world … - Peter P.S. Thursday’s release will be about 2 a.m. London time. [Edit on 17 April] P.P.S. This week’s release was delayed as a few things weren’t quite ready. We’ll now be releasing the VAT changes next Wednesday.

• The Great Mint Slice Scandal
  by RedBubble

  There is trouble in paradise. We have a problem with Xavier, and, surprisingly it has nothing…

  There is trouble in paradise. We have a problem with Xavier, and, surprisingly it has nothing to do with his hair, but with the phenomenal speed with which he devours biscuits. We’ve all had to take a pay cut just to keep the kitchen stocked. It’s getting ri-dic-u-lous. So we took his biscuits away, and see how sad he looks: However we couldn’t stand to look at his sorrow for too long, so we struck a deal with him, he could once again dive face first into a box of Arnott’s best, if he managed to design a new RedBubble logo by the end of the week. That’s right folks, a new logo. Which we’ll host on the site. But don’t worry, we know it’ll be crap, so we probably won’t use it for long, but we’ll all feel better about owing our landlords rent if we know he has had to make an effort to earn his sugar rush. Please feel free to mock or encourage him below as you see fit. And if you really feel sorry for him you can send some Arnott’s Kingstons or Mint Slices to the following address: Mr Xavier Archibald Fotherington Shay / Unit 2/192 Argyle Street / Fitzroy / VIC 3065 / Oztrayleea Thank you for your time. Humphrey

• The Roadmap: Spanish Painters, German Pop Music & Iced Tea
  by RedBubble

  Every 5-ish weeks we take a bit of time out to regroup, argue talk about what we think we need to do next, what’s broken, what we dream…

  Every 5-ish weeks we take a bit of time out to regroup, argue talk about what we think we need to do next, what’s broken, what we dream of doing eventually, crazy marketing ideas, even crazier tech ideas, problems, solutions, etc. The nerds (myself included) also get a chance to tinker around with new code, do little experiments and fix things we haven’t had time for in the regular mad rush to get stuff done. At the end of this 5th week we tend to have a massive pile of things we’d love to do and a sense of which of those are most important. Pete usually thinks there’s not enough there, and the dev team usually curls up in the fetal position terrified about how much work there is. “What does this have to do with Spanish painters, german pop music or iced tea?” you ask? Each one of these 5-week cycles is named after a particular artist or creative type we like (or at least one we think is amusing), starting with “A” for Archibald and working our way through the alphabet. We recently wrapped up the Goya and Hasselhoff cycles, and we’ve just started work on Ice T. You can blame Hasselhoff on me (the pictures of the Hoff around the office were punishment enough) and Ice T on Xavier. Anyway, we recently had one of these 5th weeks to figure out what we were trying achieve with Ice T, and we think it’s either (a) a really good idea, or (b) a really crazy idea to let you all know what’s on the roadmap and what’s really important to us for the immediate future. Of course, this is not a promise that we’ll get it all done, and it certainly doesn’t mean that we’re ignoring the other million things on the list. Have patience! Without any further ramblings, in no particular order, here’s what’s up with Ice T: some more love for Groups some buyer-oriented pages and paths through the site for shoppers a whole lotta love for our fulfillment houses so that they can process, make and ship your orders faster a whole lotta love for our back-end accounting system bigger/better canvas prints posters (these look beautiful!) postcards supersized products (yup, we want big to be bigger!) measurements in both metric and imperial gift vouchers gift wrapping wishlists more currencies something other than paypal for payments a two-minute tour for new visitors some tools to help artists promote themselves elsewhere on the web tools for us admins and moderators edit/delete tools for comments planning out some super secret stuff for the “J” release a whole lot of little/boring/techy things you don’t need to hear about This list will definitely change, twist and morph, but hopefully it’s still useful for you guys to see what’s coming up, and to know we’re listening. What should we name the “J” release? We’ve had plenty of painters, musicians and questionable actors, so perhaps it’s time for a writer, or a photographer, or a sculptor, or…? — Justin

• The Soap Bubble Episode 1
  by Andrew Walker

  Following several knock backs and aborted attempts to gain access to Paul Vanzella I have finally…

  Following several knock backs and aborted attempts to gain access to Paul Vanzella I have finally managed to jimmy the lock and enter the building that houses his workshop. It’s quite dirty to look at, yet remains aesthetically pleasing at the same time (much like a lot of his work). I have no doubt that I’m going in the right direction. There are bright flashes of light from the other end of this cavernous room, a cackling laughter can be heard along with a drone of generators / I’m entering the inner sanctum, the magic place that Paul (the Van Man) Vanzella creates his masterpieces. It’s hard to get into the corner, the bric a brack thickens as you get closer, then after squeezing between a digger and a airplane fuselage (that I’m sure I have seen before), I’m there! Blinking in the full glare of the spotlights lighting this whole area! / “WHO DARES DISTURB ME?” booms a voice from the shadows, I can just make out the outline of a figure in the lights. It looks like one of the aliens from Close encounters!!! Shock horror – Paul Vanzella is not human, hold on a moment, that’s hardly news is it, I mean we have all seen his work! / From behind me I hear movement, like the wind through silk curtains, suddenly I realise that I’m not here in the light on my own! Oh no the Van-man is in the middle of a shoot, that means if I turn round I’ll get an eyeful of Jo (No Clothes) O’Brien. / Trying to ‘nonchalantly’ turn around, I manage to avoid the expected whiplash and there in front of me stands No Clothes O’Brien ! In the nip , her birthday suit, wearing just a smile! Do I need to go on? / She looks less than happy at me being there! “how dare you” she squeeks, “we were just in the middle of recreating the Venus Di Milo! But we were going to call it the Jo Di Milo” ahh that explains the strange yellow sheen to Miss O’Brien’s skin, and here was me thinking it was jaundice. She makes no move to hide herself, instead she hisses, “best look elsewhere four eyes or I’ll turn those glasses your wearing into contact lenses!” she’s not joking there’s a real violence in her you can see it in her eyes and the scabs on her knuckles! / Turning back was where I got the whiplash “just do exactly as I say and nobody will get hurt” she whispered into my ear “isn’t that right Pauly?” she cackled. The lights dimmed and I could make the Van Man out a little clearer, he wasn’t an alien he was chained to the camera, in fact 5 camera’s hung round his neck making him visibly stoop, his ankles were chained together…a look of the defeated in his eyes he mouthed “Help Me…”. / So there we have it, Paul Vanzella is being held against his will and forced to take pictures of Jo ‘No Clothes’ O’Brien (his number one fan!), in her dastardly scheme to take over the bubble with the power and volume of her image. Oh the inhumanity of it! PLEASE NOTE THAT THE EPISODES FOLLOW ON FROM EACH OTHER IN A SOAP OPERA STYLE. WHILST EACH EPISODE SHOULD BE A STORY IN ITSELF IT IS HOPED THEY THREAD TOGETHER. THERE ARE MORE EPISODES TO READ, JUST CLICK HERE! SOAP BUBBLE please note that all comments are completely fictitious and intended to be humorous. The journal relates to my interpretation of the art and to stories that I make up about the artist as a bubble characters rather than focusing on the real people behind the art

• "REDBUBBLE Exposure"
  by Aphoto4You IPA

  Due to REDBUBBLE excistance and my PORTOFOLIO exposure on Redbubble BUYER contacted me from a known MAGAZINE and i have sold Ph…

  Due to REDBUBBLE excistance and my PORTOFOLIO exposure on Redbubble BUYER contacted me from a known MAGAZINE and i have sold Photo for Magazine COVER…for a awsome fee…Thank you Buyer and thank you Redbubble for having me here…Thank you all for supporting my work graciously… This is a Photo for magazine “OREGON SPECTACULAR“ / I am on CLOUD NINE and Oregon I BE THERE in 2008

• Welcome to the new community page
  by community

  This is the place to hook into all the creative stuff happening on RedBubble. Events, discussions, featured people, recent stuff, what’s …

  This is the place to hook into all the creative stuff happening on RedBubble. Events, discussions, featured people, recent stuff, what’s hot, etc … it’s all here! Community blog – our commentary on what’s going on, including collaborations, interesting case studies, and stuff to check out What’s Hot – get the inside word on what blogs, images and t-shirt designs are becoming popular right now What’s Happening – here’s the most recent activity on RedBubble, including signups, blog entries, comments, forum posts, sales, watchlists, favourites, and new art and designs Say hello – meet one of the many interesting folks on RedBubble Other – links to other stuff like our fortnightly newsletter Bubblewrap, competitions, forums, learning centre, etc We reckon it’s a big improvement – what do you think?

• RedBubble Post Card - The roadmap
  by RedBubble

  Hello all, Thought you might be interested in a sneak preview of what’s in the RedBubble road map for the next two to eight weeks. An…

  Hello all, Thought you might be interested in a sneak preview of what’s in the RedBubble road map for the next two to eight weeks. And a caveat to start with – things change – so please don’t take this as a rock solid guarantee. Groups First up we’re looking to introduce an early version of ‘groups’ this Thursday. The group functionality will evolve a lot over the next six months – so what you’ll see on Thursday is just the first step. Our thinking on groups is that they will allow people to immerse themselves more fully in their areas of interest. For example, we could have a landscape photography group or a street photography group. At the moment RedBubble has 15,000 members – and it can be hard to engage with a collection of 15,000 people. Groups will allow us all to engage with smaller collections of people – with a shared interest. T-shirts On 4 October we’ll switch all our t-shirt manufacturing the US (using a technology that can print white inks). We’ll also be adding a new style and new colour. Again this isn’t the final destination for t-shirts … just another small step. Tools for buyers Over the next month or two we’ll update the site to make it easier for buyers to find what they are looking for. This has yet to be finalized but could include such things as a buyer path through the site and improved search functionality. Tools for artists Over the next month or two we’ll also look to provide artists with more tools to promote their work – widgets and fingers crossed a ‘private’ version of RedBubble: e.g. peter.redbubble.com which could serve as a ‘shop front’ for any traffic I’d like to direct to RedBubble (i.e. it wouldn’t include comments, it would only include my images and wouldn’t link to the rest of RedBubble). Other new products and features Gift certificates, an updated canvas product, larger wall art products, integrating payment into the website, and a few features to encourage people to use RedBubble for their best work (e.g. an updated upload process and the studio idea that we’ve previously written about here). Competitions A competition for writers and visual artists – our writers haven’t been feeling as much love over the last little while and we want to start addressing this. And there’s probably a whole bunch of stuff I’ve forgotten about (and there’s a few things that we’re working on that are not quite ready to go in the road map) but this should give you a sense of what’s in the pipe works for the next couple of months. - Peter

• Giving Birth to Mounted Prints
  by RedBubble

  I’m going to post a little series giving you guys a look behind the curtain, specifically how we make some of our products for you guys. ...

  I’m going to post a little series giving you guys a look behind the curtain, specifically how we make some of our products for you guys. Today – lets take a look at mounted prints. We start with a big box of Kodak Endura paper like this: Then we fire a big ‘laser’ at it: After that it gets processed, It’s pretty dark inside the machine… You’re just going to have to use your imagination abit here – lots of rollers and developer: We check and then laminate the prints: We mount it onto the gator: We trim and the edge the print: Finally, we test every product before it goes out: Ok, so it’s all true, except for the last part, though that really is me standing on that print … gator board … strong stuff ! James