Creative Community Bulletin 22 July 2010 Through 27 July 2010

These are the arti­cles, blogs, and resources I found inter­est­ing and wor­thy of shar­ing for 22 July 2010 through 27 July 2010:

• Make Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign Get Along –

  Death, tax­es, and import­ing Word files into InDesign: They’re all inevitable. I can’t help with the first two, but here’s how to make the best of the third. 

• Marrying Types: Sans on Sans | CreativePro​.com –

  In “Words into Type,” two clas­sic sans serif faces join forces to play an ele­gant and har­mo­nious duet. What lessons can we learn and apply to our own type­face combinations?

• Create Your Own Photoshop Brushes (or Just Take Ours) –

  To cre­ate effects that look real­is­tic and mim­ic tra­di­tion­al media, paint your own shapes, then scan them into Photoshop. But in case you don’t have paint and brush­es handy, down­load our scanned scribbles!

• A Real Web Design Application-InDesign? Illustrator? Photoshop? –

  The web and its relat­ed dis­ci­plines have grown organ­i­cal­ly. I think it’s safe to say the web is not the domain of just the geeks anymore-we all live here. And those of us who work here should have sophis­ti­cat­ed, native tools to do our jobs.

• When you write com­e­dy and humor, some­times a smile is your only reward –

  Once in a while, think in terms of a pleas­ant lit­tle item that earns a smile. It can free up your cre­ativ­i­ty and help you with the big laugh. And if it doesn’t? Well, you’ve still earned a smile and maybe the atten­tion of read­ers who will want to enjoy more of your stuff.

• Burn Notice Announces Sam Axe Prequel –

  The pre­quel, a one-time movie that does not yet have an air date, will fol­low Sam Axe’s last mis­sion in the mil­i­tary, exec­u­tive pro­duc­er Matt Nix said. “You will see what hap­pened and how Sam Axe end­ed up retir­ing in Miami.

• Life in a Day | July 24 | A Film Made by You (and Ridley Scott) –
• The Hot Author Report –

  This is my the­o­ry – until you start writ­ing a char­ac­ter you nev­er know how much room they are going to take up in your sto­ry. An exam­ple of this is Gloria, a char­ac­ter who appears in Lucy Springer Gets Even as Lucy’s best friend and agent.

  When I first start­ed think­ing about her, Gloria was a bit play­er at best, duck­ing in for a cou­ple of scenes here and there but nev­er tak­ing over the show. But when I began writ­ing her in to scenes, she took on a whole new dimen­sion. Her look, per­son­al­i­ty and voice seemed to write itself. Sketching Gloria in my mind was one thing, but she had oth­er ideas and the amaz­ing abil­i­ty to write her­self a much larg­er part. 

• 6 Ways to Be a Happier Freelancer –

  Freelancing is a work style choice, so it is only fair that we can mold that style into a hap­py one. Being hap­py in one’s career is the only way to stay pro­duc­tive and keep mov­ing for­ward. Of course, it is impor­tant regard­less of pro­duc­tiv­i­ty or suc­cess to love what your doing.

  In this arti­cle, let’s look into six ways free­lancers can be hap­pi­er today, and can set up a way to be hap­pi­er in the future of their work. You have the pow­er to shape your own free­lance busi­ness, so know that you always have the pow­er to cre­ate a free­lanc­ing busi­ness that will make you want to get out of bed in the morning.

• Which Are Better: Online or Offline Clients? –

  The great pow­er of free­lanc­ing in this indus­try is that we can do it com­plete­ly online. This is great for the many of us that like to work in our PJ’s, sleep in, and work when we want to. For oth­ers, online inter­ac­tion can be a lot less stress­ful than face-to-face interaction.

  So if we’re able to, why not base our entire busi­ness online? Seems like a valid choice, but this can be how many free­lancers fail. It can also be the one cause as to why many free­lance web design­ers don’t ever real­ly get a good start in the first place. In this post, let’s dis­cuss the pros and cons of offline clients, and of online clients.