Amazing Floral Typography Inspiration

Floral and ornamental type dates back to medieval times when scribes were writing manuscripts, they would use the large ornamental lettering as initials and smaller plainer fonts for the body text.

Embellishment

Lettering that had been modified with such decoration is usually referred to as embellishment, this means that the decoration appears on top of the letterform, this type of decoration was copied and experimented with in the 19th century by foundries adding patterns, pictures shadows and 3D effects to there lettering.

embellishing

Encompassing

The other type of lettering is refereed to as Encompassing this is when the letterform itself is decorative and is not derived from an existing letterform

encompassing

Ref Book: Type and Typography

Below are a few examples from around the web to gain some inspiration in this style of design and typography that has taken form over the years.

Fourooms

Created by Fourooms a design studio in Hamburg as a Christmas gift to Si Scott, another designer who also produces similar floral and flourish type designs.

This design looks overgrown and wild with an upward movement that makes it feel like its growing.

tinacolada

The hand drawn version coloured with ink.

tinacoladabw

Shaz Madani

An elegant hand made design by Shaz Madani made from paper for a campaign for Artic Paper to bridge the gap between creativity and environmental thinking, such as using recycled paper.

newleaf

Quinto hache

These flourishes originate from the numbers and grow upwards, there are lines in the background and also balloons floating, the space and stars on the numbers gives the design a bright vivid aura.

renemanuel

Yulia Brodskaya

Yulia Brodskaya originally from Russia has achived numerous awards for typographic style and design, these designs look like icing on a cake, delicate flourishes with contrasting colours.

heart

magic

Ginger Monkey Design

Ginger Monkey Design have had numerous features in magazines including computer arts, there designs incorporate many swirls and flourishes, This personal collection is part of there inspiring word series here can be seen compassion and selfless.

This set has great composition and simple decoration yet has a massive impact on the type as well as the though provoking colours.

gmcompassion

gmselfless

Words are Pictures

Words are Pictures is a London, UK based designer that has some familiar designs, playing with typography and words is how this designers progresses his designs, as you can see the design below looks almost 3D with hidden words behind the foliage.

wishyouwerehere

Inksurge

Inksurge a design company from Manila, Philippines specialising in visual arts and communication

Prouced this design for the hosting company Media Temple, a shirt design for a premium give-away for their clients and partners.

Covers the letterforms with a bouquet of ornaments and floral patterns making the it still legible to read.

mt1

mt2

Nathan Walker

Nathan Walker from Dallas, TX, United States is a freelance designer specialising in digital art.

A sketch taken in to Photoshop inspired by a quote from the bible “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

love1

love2

Narani Kannan

Narani Kannan is a graphic design student in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The design below is inspired by the Victorian architecture know as baroque.

narani

Arthur Dam

Arthur Dam is a designer from Hilversum, Netherlands and has created atmospheric digital designs

The design below shows an intriquet blend of curls around a light font making the whole word eye catching even though the colours are quite dull.

word

Burlesque Design

Burlesque Design an array of music oriented prints and posters, the example below shows how the design is progressing from a sketch.

pelican

Nikki Farquharson

Nikki Farquharson a freelance designer from London, UK has an eye for patterns, lines, shapes and colours.

nerd

Si Scott

Si Scott is maybe one of the more well know dseigners for this style

siscott

siscott2

Sumeco

sumeco is a Dutch designer who has a huge and inspiring portfolio of digital work the examples shown take on a natural typography theme with roots, vines, and branches, giving the designs a fresh feel.

wireless

somersby

Colin Lee

Colin Lee is a passionate designer from London, UK creating complex typographic treatments as well as other forms of graphic design.

dolce1

funkrush

Shiny Binary

Nik Ainley of Shiny Binary is an Oxford, UK based illustrator and has had some great accomplishments with publications in magazines and books, he strives to master his tools to realise his ideas.

type

Comments

Id have to say that this style of typography catchs my imagination more over than allot of other styles. just because of the detail and time spent on each piece, What do yo like and think about this style ?

Design Shards Flickr group Showcase #1

Yes this is the first showcase from the design shard flickr group and hopefully not the last in a long line to come, obviously this post would not of been possible without the creative talents of every one who submits work to the showcase, so keep doing it!.

Group Stats:

  • Group opened: 16 Nov 2008 – Just under 2 months been active
  • Group Creatives: 203 members joined during that time
  • Art Added: 221 pieces of awesome art work

Other Networks

Ill take this opportunity to say that im now signed up to Facebook so id be more than happy to have you all as friends on there and you can also join the facebook design shard group to post useful design links or work, so ill see you around

The Showcase

Every thime i come to design shard i take a look in the footer to see the latest entries are in th flickr group and im always surprised to see such talent, so ive listed a few examples of work that ive been looking at in the group.

In the Eye of the Beholder

In the Eye of the Beholder
Created by: Wicked Mantis

Michael Phelps: No words. Just water…

Michael Phelps: No words. Just water...
Created by: tsevis

IKEA Sweden: Mosaic Guy II

IKEA Sweden: Mosaic Guy II
Created by: tsevis

Fish Face

Fish Face
Created by: trondus

Vector Karma – Nebulae color variation

Vector Karma - Nebulae color variation
Created by: tanaka13

Wise

Wise
Created by: SeraphimCollective

Silences Pale

Silences Pale
Created by: Lukes Beard

Silences

Silences
Created by: Lukes Beard

Burton Snowboars Wallpaper

Burton Snowboars Wallpaper
Created by: ironbondio

Logo Inerxia

Logo Inerxia
Created by: inerxia

Miniature Basketball

Miniature Basketball
Created by: hferris92

Ysbryda

Ysbryda
Created by: heymeca

Master

Master
Created by: heymeca

Ilustra Hot pocket

Ilustra Hot pocket
Created by: foma.am

May Your 2009 Rock

May Your 2009 Rock
Created by: cresk

Colorcubic 2009 Print

Colorcubic 2009 Print
Created by: colorcubic

Rain by brades

Rain by brades
Created by: buud

Target

Target
Created by: breakerr.deviantart.com

Abcox

Abcox
Created by: breakerr.deviantart.com

View From the Empire State Building NYC, Tiltshift

View From the Empire State Building NYC, Tiltshift
Created by: blakelyons

Find Hope

Find Hope
Created by: biancayvonne

Three inspirations

Three inspirations
Created by: biancayvonne

Abduzeedo 2 Years Anniversary

Abduzeedo 2 Years Anniversary
Created by: abduzeedo

Dont worry if your design isnt in the showcase, im sure one will be in it next round up! keep going!

10 Inspiring sites to gain Photoshop inspiration

NOTE: This is a guest post by Sebastiano, if you would like to do a guest post please contact me.

Now we’ve got the Photoshop basics which enable us to use any type of tutorial in the most friendly manner.

It’s time to pull out the creativity and realize our own creations. Where does inspiration come from?, Anywhere: a film, a videogame, a skateboard, a site… Having said that I will propose 10 amazing sites that will certainly provide good ideas where you can start from.

1) FFFFOUND!

It’s one of mine most preferred sources, FFFFound! is a web service that allows the users to post & share their favourite images found on the web.

ffffound

2) COOL SHOWCASE

It’s the marriage of Sergio Milardovich (web programmer) & Leonardo Correa (designer) ideas. CoolShowcase is a cyberspace gallery for the work of freelance digital artists, graphic designers and photographers.

Cool Showcase

3) GRAPHIC-EXCHANGE

It’s a nice site where Fabien Barrall (graphic designer/photographer/art director) shows the works of his favourite graphic designers, photographers, artists and designers.

Graphic Exchange

4) PSDTUTS FLICKR GROUP

Another talent den is Flickr. For my point of view PSDTUTS is the best photoshop blog focusing on photoshop, and its Flickr group is made of 4500+ members.

PSD Tuts Flickr

5) ALL CAPS PROJECT

Graffiti represents a fascinating creativity source and, on the following site, there are several really unique.

All Caps Project

6) SKATEBOARDS

Skateboards.com is an unusual resource. It treats e-commerce of products that are examples of creativity and originality.

Skateboards

7) CLICK FOR ART

ClickForArt is an online store of art prints, printed boxed canvasses, art prints mounted in chunky contemporary frames or in our ornate stately frames.

This is a limited edition

8) STATION

It’s a videogames gallery. Videogames covers are graphic works as good as film covers.

Station

9) CG SOCIETY

The CG SOCIETY is the most respected and accessible global organization for creative digital artists.

CG Society

10) BEHANCE

It’s a network that provides visibility to the works of creative professionals. Behance is a free platform for the world’s leading creative professionals.

Behance

Comments

When I’m looking for inspiration, the above mentioned sites are those I surf first. What are yours?

Illustration Artists Showcase and Inspiration – Part 2

A mixed collection of talented illustration artists some using 3D programs, oil paints, Illustrator and Photoshop to produce there creations, I have placed a piece of text about each illustrator where possible as well as slightly explaining what they incorporate in to there work.

Angry Blue

About: Under the Angryblue moniker, I design posters, art prints, album art and do way too many shirt designs full of strange imagery. Though I’ve mainly done more aggressive work for metal bands, I’ve managed to do successful merchandise design for Genesis and Ashlee Simpson as well.

Skulls and bones the perfect recipe for vector art and posters this artist uses the vector lines and solid colours to his advantage producing some great poster art

Angry Blue

Poked Studio

About: This studio produces some amazing 3d illustrations often incorporating big eyes and psychedelic colours to amaze any one who looks at them. using blender and photoshop

Poked Studio

Destill

About: Mike is a 23 year old designer and illustrator from Torquay UK, and has gained lots of recognition world wide and is always looking to expand his skills in various fields of design

Illustration mixed with photomanipulation mike brings hisdesigns to life with movement and flow, his designs look cluttered nit are far from that as each illustation is stregically positioned for hte viewrs pleasure, he alos has some really nice typography work in his portfolio.


Birdy and Me

About: Kelly smith lives in Tasmania Australia, in 20006 she graduated with a bachelor of fine arts from Tasmanian school of art and has since gone on to pursue a freelance career in both portrait and fashion illustration

Like it says in her bio her art is like stepping in to a modern fairly tale with faint pencil lines and the odd splash of abstract colour to distract the eye using water colours and vintage colours to support her illustrations.

Birdy and Me

Dan May

Dan May was born and raised in the suburbs of Rochester, NY, Dan spends his days (and nights) painting dreamlike environments that transcend space and time. These delightful yet haunting images are often based in personal observations of both human’s and nature’s relationships with each other, blended with a healthy dose of whimsy, fantasy and cautious relevance.

The paintings and characters that Dan produces almost give you a sense of sadness due to the dark colours and mournful looks of lonely characters that he paints with such detail and texture, i think i can call myself a fan! he also has a really cool Flickr gallery


Camilla d’Errico

About: After a few years in the comic industry Camilla realized she could expand her style into a variety of other industries; snowboards, magazine covers, toys, clothes. Camilla has also begun to carve out a niche for herself in the fine art field thanks to her fiery nature, high level of ambition and persistence in following her dream

Camilla has a few social profiles in her bio including Deviantart and Behance she paints eerie characters showing different emotions on different kinds of media from pieces of wood to canvas giving each illustration a unique feel and texture.

Camilla d'Errico

Digital Delight

About: Niel Quisaba’s Based in tropical Philippines, produces designs for snowboards, tshirts and even web designs his style of squid like tenticles and bubbly illustrations sets his unique style apart from most illustrators.


Imaginary Design

About: Adam Koniuszewski his main passion is graphic design and illustration the tools he uses include Pencil, brush, acrylic, cut-outs, Photoshop, Illustrator.

Looking through Adams designs they are all quite abstract and almost experimental some may look unfinished or cluttered these designs ad the most interest to who is looking at them, he uses his line drawings to great effect with textured backgrounds. he also has a flickr profile and a deviant art profile

Imaginary Design

J Three Concepts

About: True vector illustration with his bright colours schemes and solid colours, his illustrations are mostly made up of smaller doodles and illustration to create a bigger picture, often looking complex to the viewer yet interesting.

J Three Concepts

Zero 13

About: A freelance illustrator, living in Bucharest, Romania. he uses all kinds of tools ranging from rotring pencils, markers, spray paint to Wacom tablet, Photoshop, Illustrator to give birth to his dreams.

Some of these pieces of work are really great master pieces with huge canvases and so much detail to take in, there is often lots of visual shapes and lines to look at and spend minutes looking over each illustration carefully.

Zero 13

Zenvironments

About: Zachariah Johnsen, is a young artist concentrating in watercolour, pen & ink,
And mixed media works on paper. His medium of choice is the micron pen and he uses them exhaustively to describe a world of ghouls, monsters, and misfits – the shady characters in everyday life, but just hidden from normal view.


Design blogs with Flickr Groups everyone come share your work

I have just started my own flickr group here on design shard to showcase work and peoples inspirations.

Join Design Shards Flickr group: Join Here

The 9 most recent flickr entries will be shown in the footer of this blog and from time to time there shall be showcases of excellent work from the group as i know a few other design blogs also do this including My Ink Blog and Fuel Your Creativity.

I also just want to highlight a few of the design blogs in the community that have a flickr group that you may want to join, if ive missed some please let me know and i will add them to the list.

Design Shard Design Shard | Go To Flickr Group

About: This group is to showcase any images that you have created or found around the web, the 9 most recent submissions will be shown on Design Shard Design Blog in the footer area of the site ( Yes thats me ).

ArbentingArbenting | Go To Flickr Group

About: A place for the readers at Arbenting to showcase their creations. I’d love to see anything you’ve done with the Arbenting Freebies but feel free to submit anything.

High Resolution TexturesHigh Resolution Textures | Go To Flickr Group

About: This group is about sharing high resolution textures of any kind. Wood, metal, rust, plants, fabric or anything else that can be considered a texture. Feel free to post your pictures and let the group discuss them.

Colorburned Colorburned | Go To Flickr Group

About: This is the Colorburned Flickr Community. Feel free to add the designs that you created using Colorburned textures, vector resources and tutorials.

Fudgegraphics Fudgegraphics | Go To Flickr Group

About: This group is meant for all the designs created with fudgegraphics freebies such as photoshop brushes, textures or vectors. Feel free to post other designs as well. It’s always nice to have see creative artworks in one single group.

My Ink BlogMy Ink Blog | Go To Flickr Group

About: This group was created for the readers of My Ink Blog. So they can show off their work, or the results of stepping through one of the tutorials.

Fuel Your Creativity Fuel Your Creativity | Go To Flickr Group

About: What fuel’s your creativity? Design, Photography, Art…post what inspires you to create your next masterpiece. Anything is welcome, just keep it clean. Your work or the work that inspires you may be featured on my blog from time to time. Cheers!

Online-Photoshop Tutorials Online-Photoshop Tutorials | Go To Flickr Group

About: An archive of pictures for the website www.online-photoshoptutorials.com including uploads from it’s users.

Loon Design Loon Design | Go To Flickr Group

About: “It is all about design”

Gomedia Gomedia | Go To Flickr Group

About: Post your art or designs created using stuff from Go Media’s Arsenal. Periodically, designs we like will be highlighted on our blog at www.gomediazine.com – so make sure it’s something you are proud of!

InspiredologyInspiredology | Go To Flickr Group

About: Inspiredology is about the blog inspiredology.com. The blog showcases inspirational designs in different fields of inspiration. This group is created to have a compilation of images that might not be listed on inspiredology.

Bittbox Bittbox | Go To Flickr Group

About: Anyone and everyone who would like to share their designs and what they have learned or used from BittBox Freebies/Tutorials. Heck, just show us what you got, doesn’t matter where you got it!

BooooooomBooooooom | Go To Flickr Group

About: All you loyal readers of Booooooom.com out there can now upload your own photos here and they will be displayed on the site

Outlaw Outlaw | Go To Flickr Group

About: A place for freelance designers, photographers, graphic artists, web designers, illustrators, and any other creative freelancer can share thier work.

Vector TutsVector Tuts | Go To Flickr Group

About: Like vector graphics? Join the Vectortuts Community! Vectortuts is a vector Tutorial site with thousands of daily readers and a really cool group of active community members.

PSD TutsPSD Tuts | Go To Flickr Group

About: Like Photoshop? Join the PSDTUTS Community! PSDTUTS is a Photoshop Tutorial site with thousands of daily readers and a really cool group of active community members.

Abduzeedo Abduzeedo | Go To Flickr Group