I’ve had a love affair with graphics and design for a decade now. Photoshop has been my faithful friend for many years now. Not a day or two goes by that I’m not creating something. But as any designer can tell you, sometimes the creativity just stops cold in it’s tracks. Some days I’m unstoppable and other days it’s a bad case of Photoshop Block, when I can’t design my way out of a paper bag! Times like that, I decide it’s time for some inspiration, always only a few mouseclicks away. I have a certain style, I guess we all do as designers but I feel like I’m forever trying to break out of it and change it up a bit. There are definite trends in design. Last year it seemed to be everything had to be reflected. I admit I do love that look!

This year it seems to be a retro grunge, with the use of vectors and almost a throw back to the 70’s type of style that’s popular. I love this look too! In my recent explorations to ignite my own creative spark, I’d like to share a few of my artfully beautiful findings and give major props to these exceedingly talented artists, all displaying their work on the awesome Behance.net showcase site.

The Looking Glass

Good Morning Stranger

ARTWORK 2008

Alcohol Unity

Bowienet

GP Poster

Smashing Magazine 2nd Anniversary Poster

November 2008

VALENDIA

March 2009

Weird Retro Color Trends

Miscellaneouz

Broken Type Experiment

Vinyl Record Font

Rise

Project Love Baby

Afternoon Delight

Artwork 2009

The Margarets: Single Covers

Day to Day 2009

Turn it Up

Birdies, I see birdies, they’re everywhere! No, thankfully we’re not talking about an Alfred Hitchcock flick and the feathered flock is friend not foe, but they ARE swarming, all over the net. Who’d have guessed back before the internet went all Web 2.0 on us that one of the main mascots of the new technology era and social networking craze would be a bird for the now insanely popular Twitter micro blogging service. As a graphics designer, I gotta admit, some of the illustrations out there are ridiculously adorable. And while I am a designer, I’m not much of an illustrator, so I often find myself in awe of what new creations I see come along.

If you’re just dying to get your hands on a few of these freebie birdies for your own Twitter endeavors, I’ve compiled a list for you! Thanks to the artists for sharing their talents and offering their Twitter goodies for free!

An interesting sidenote, the actual bird used on the Twitter site was licensed from iStockPhoto.com for around $6!

The bird on Twitter’s home page, familiar to millions, is small, cute and fun, and implies communication and anticipation. One might say it’s the perfect graphic for Twitter. Yet the company paid its designer at most $6, without attribution.

• Read the Article on Wired.com

• Interview with Twitter bird artist Simon Oxley

FREE Twitter Birdies, Badges & More!

• Twitterbies – Twitter Bird Freebies
• Design Mirkku’s Birdies (I love these adorable little guys!)
• Happy Birds from WebDesign.fm
• Twitter Birds from TheDesignSuperHero.com
• 8 Free Cute & Simple Twitter Birds from Spoon Graphics
• 181 Free Twitter Buttons, Badges, Widget and Counters to Help You Find Followers
• 100+ Remarkably Beautiful Twitter Icons And Buttons

Twitter Bird Illustration Tutorials

• Create a Twitter Style Bird Mascot – Vector Tuts
  

• Drawing Twitter Bird Love Vector Using Photoshop and Illustrator

• Create A Vector Art Twitter Bird Character Icon In Adobe Illustrator

• Birds of a Feather Dingbat Font

Creativity is for the Birds!

• 20 + Twitter Bird Designs
• 10 Twitter Inspired Creations
• 16 Ways of Making Twitter Birds COOL!

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER!