To download please go to our website.

FINAL IMAGE

You can download the psd file at the end of the tutorial.

Let us begin!

STEP 1

Create a new document of a desired size and fill it with black by using Default Foreground and background Colors(D and the Paint Bucket Tool(G) and click on the workspace. This is usually the first step for many other drawings, so you should get used to this part. You can also add a gradient.

Now duplicate this layer by going to Layers > Duplicate layer… or just press CTRL+J. I recommend you learn shortcuts, they are a life saver.

STEP 2

Grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and draw a rectangle to cover about 80% of the “Background copy” layer like below.

STEP 3

Go to Filter > Render > Fibers… Set the Variance to about 23 and Strength to 5. Click OK. Now press CTRL+D to deselect.

STEP 4

Now go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set Angle to 90 degrees and Distance to 500. Should look like the image below.

STEP 5

Open the Levels window (CTRL+L) and play around with the cursors to give it more contrast.

STEP 6

Double-click the top-most layer in the layer palette to bring up the Blending Properties window and check Color Overlay tab. Click that tab and set Blend mode to Multiply.

Grab a color of your choice. I used (#ff0000 – default overlay color).

STEP 7

Duplicate this layer (CTRL+J) and move the curtain on the new layer to the right. Then duplicate it one more time.

STEP 8

Grab the Warp Tool (Edit > Transform > Warp) and curve up the top-most layer image. Then move it to the top right like below.

STEP 9

Open the Blending Properties window (double-click layer) and check “Drop shadow”. Use the settings below.

STEP 10

Duplicate this layer, then move it to the top left corner. Now go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Reposition it to look natural.

STEP 11

Go to layer palette and create a new layer group and drag all layers in it. Drag that layer over the “New Layer” button.

Merge the new layer group (select group, press (CTRL+E). Turn off “Group 1″ layer group. We do this so we can be able to edit them later of we need to.

Done!

You can also take the idea even further and make those cheesy colored drapes by adding patterns over them like below.

DOWNLOAD Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.

Every once in a while is hard to find work or maybe business is a bit slow so is good to have an extra income, a passive income. If you are a designer and you want to have a passive income here are few things that can help you achieve that.

1. Use the designs that that were rejected by your clients and sell them on Graphic leftovers or a similar marketplace.
2. Sell email services to your clients under your name with Campaignmonitor.
3. Sell templates, a handy list of 10 places to sell templates.
4. Sell photos or vectors on Shutterstock.com, Istockphoto.com, Fotolia.com or Graphicriver.
5. Design and sell products on Cafepress or Zazzle, not only t-shirts you can sell a bunch of other stuff.
6. Create a blog and add some affiliate banners to earn commissions or sell advertising if you have enough visitors.
7. Write an ebook and sell it.
8. Write articles or tutorials for blogs and magazines.

These are only a few things you can do, of course this takes time and the profit from this does not come over night. You can work on some of this stuff when you are between projects and spend your time more effectively and why not maybe even profitably.

More links about passive income:

http://www.outlawdesignblog.com/2009/my-secrets-about-passive-income/

http://freelanceswitch.com/money/turn-your-unused-client-work-into-passive-income/

http://notbythehour.com/

http://www.adrianpelletier.com/2009/03/08/creating-passive-income-on-the-side/

Do you have a passive income?

We are happy to announce that designious.com has a new face, a better one we think. So, what’s new? Well on the back-end quite a lot, we are using Magento now and we were really impressed what can it do.

On the front end you will see:

• improved search and easier products sorting
• improved and faster checkout
• easy sign up
• live chat
• news page
• discount coupons

We hope the new look is more appealing and easier to work with.

- Floral pack 49

- Lips (new)

- Skull 16

- Splashes 2 (new)

- Splashes3 (new)

- Spray paint 2 (new)

- T-shirt garments 1 (new)

- Wings 10 (new)

- Wings 11 (new)

- Wings 12 (new)

- Wings 13 (new)

- DLV: dlv@configuracionvisual.com

- Chris : chrisalauer@hotmail.com

- Kevin : kevin@ethoscreations.com

- Icebluelady: iceblulady@gmail.com

- Lorna: ljhadley@mac.com

We will contact each one of them to award them the prizes.

Thanks everyone for participating.

We have a cool giveaway for our readers, win 5 subscriptions for one month(600 vector downloads) to Vectorious.net a brand new website where you can find only quality vector illustrations. The idea of the website is very simple, sign up for one of the subscriptions and start downloading the vectors you like. Payments are processed by Paypal and you can cancel any time, no hard feelings.

Vectorious.net has some generous subscription plans at a very low price, they start at $15 per month for 600 vector downloads which is more than you can ask for.

If you want to win all you have to do is comment here and add a link of an image you like from vectorious.net.

Comments will be closed on Saturday(27 June) and the winners will be announce on Monday(29 June).

Good luck to everyone!

A great ad promoting a gym in India. Just  the use of two stickers and made an ordinary elevator into a pretty cool one.

Sounds familiar? We’ve all heard this kind of speech. OH THE FRUSTRATION !Lots of time spent trying to achieve a perfect balanced composition and all the elements are in place and you are satisfied with the work , and it looks great BUT the client doesn’t get any of your ideas and he insists on making tons and tons of alterations until you end up with a mock up of the original idea and you die a little inside.

So , as you may have guessed that’s what this article is all about… different kind of difficult clients and some healthy ways to dealing with them  without losing your mind our your soul. First we are going to begin with identifying different categories of difficult  clients . Please feel free to add any other category that I might have left out.

Types of Difficult Clients

( Any similarity to  any real persons  is purely coincidental  )

The But client

This is the type of client that will always praise your work , put you  in a good mood and immediately after that starting with the criticizing. He clearly doesn’t like what he sees  but  he has learned in the self help book he has read that it is better to highlight the pros before the cons BUT what this type of client doesn’t know is that  this tactic is  actually very very annoying.

What’s- So- Difficult- About- Your- Job Client

This is the type of client that thinks he can do your job much better than you and he acts like he  doesn’t need you. His standards are usually too high and often he  doesn’t  even know what he wants. Maybe he has some basic knowledge or  he is a frustrated artist . He also makes sure  you know and appreciate  his artistic skills because his self esteem  needs to get some extra points .

You- Do -Something- I’ll -Tell -You- If- I- Like -It Client

This is a very common type of client. He doesn’t know what he wants. He gives you no indications but when you show him a version he suddenly knows what  he doesn’t want and he is ready to critique everything. But this client is surely better than the …

I -Know- What -I -Want- And – It’s -Awful Client

This is the type of client that comes from the very beginning with examples of others people work ( nor rarely his examples look plain dreadful ) . And he often wants you to copy  them or create something very similar to that. He is  of course often  very reticent to any new ideas.

The- Tight- Deadline Client

He always makes you work under pressure giving you a very close deadline. He comes in the last moment all agitated and frustrated demanding an absolute priority for his project.

The -Other- People- Decide- For -Me client

It’s the kind of client who likes your proposal when he first sees it  just to call you later on to tell you that …he has thought about it…and well his wife says it’s too…

The advantage is that this type of client is easy to convince that your version is what he is looking for. But the disadvantage is that after he leaves your office he goes home again.

The  Needy Client

This client will take all your time, send you tones of e-mails, call you for hours in weekends and whenever he feels like it . He is under  the impression that if he hired you , he owns all your time  and he is entitled to disturb you for any small thing.

The Indecisive Client

Make you do lots of changes and then change them again , just to decide in the end that your first version was the better one. He is never satisfied and just because he likes something today doesn’t mean that he can’t hate it tomorrow.

The- Always- Looking- For – A- Deal Client

He will always require a discount, minimizing the value of your work. Also this type of client requires you work for a smaller fee promising that this will lead to more work in the future.This is just the type of collaboration you are going to  regret sooner or later. But again this type of client is better than the…

The -One- That -Doesn’t -Pay

This is actually the worst case scenario…when you find out that all your hard work  was for free.That’s  the reason that led to contracts being invented  and you always have to take good safety  measures to make sure that this doesn’t happen.

Dealing With Difficult Clients

We have to admit that designer and client are locked into a marriage ,that like a real marriage has to be based on equal partnership and understanding if it is to last an produce a worthwhile offspring. Without clients there is no graphic design , and without demanding clients there is no good graphic design. Until a certain point, a demanding client can be stimulating, helping you get more out of your work.

Don’t just confront or avoid your client. When you are to busy with complaining  about his actions you miss out on the opportunity to learn something about him. Get to know your client, don’t just get annoyed by him. Think about the motivation behind his actions. Why does he insists on leaving the impression he is an undercover design guru , why is he always critiscing your work.  Maybe because he has some issues of his own : a low self esteem that needs to be boosted with a know it all image. Look beyond the surface and maybe you will find an easier and more efficient way to deal with your client.

I remember a client that was clearly difficult. He barely liked anything, he always made me do alterations, start over, and practically made me lose a lot time with his project and I was very frustrated about that until I have realised that he actually thought that I wasn’t that much involved in his project. And that’s why he made do all that work . I must admit that by the time I have realised that I  really wasn’t that involved. I’ve started with enthusiasm ,but after all his exaggerated demands my enthusiasm wore off.

So I’ve changed my tactics. Every time he dropped by , I would assure him that his project is the most important out of my all projects, that  I was spending lots of time on it  and I was deeply involved and interested.His criticism instantly melted and we started collaborating much better from then on.

Also it is very important to set clear boundaries from the very beginning. You will always meet clients that will want to test them, and negotiate them. It’s for your own safety. I’ve had my share if demanding clients that think they own your free time. I remember a client that made me lose all my weekend. It started as a simple task that would only take a half hour to make but it turned out to be a 10 hour conversation with millions and billions of alterations just to return to the original version. That’s what happened because I had no boundaries.I’ve learned my lesson and from then on I always make sure I set my rules straight .

Finally it is very important to keep in mind that your clients will never ever change. They have no interested in doing so. So the only good thing to do is that you change how you approach them. Observe them, learn more about their real needs and maybe you will find a new way to communicate with them.

I am more than interested in your own experience in dealing with clients. What was your most difficult client and how did you manage to deal with the situation. Tell us about it.