Everything You Know is Wrong: Ancient Sculpture was Colorful
September 30, 2010
We all know that Nero did not fiddle while Rome burned – the fiddle wasn’t invented for another 1,500 years for one. Two, although he was generally considered one of the worst administrators among Roman emperors, he was tireless in his efforts to help his subjects after the disastrous fire in 64 A.D.
Nero was vacationing in Anzio away from the summer heat of Rome when he was first informed of the great fire. When he arrived the conflagration was so wide spread the horses he and his guards rode refused to enter the city.
“Speckled with soot, the emperor’s famous bronze hair appeared black; in the thick smoke he was virtually unrecognizable. Nero dashed from street to street, assisting the injured, offering aid, and even entering a burning building to help rescue a family. A man who did not recognize the emperor was so grateful for his help that he offered him a reward of gold coins. Nero declined the reward and revealed his identity to the startled man.” – William Weir, History’s Greatest Lies
We also all know that ancient Greek and Roman statues were white, if marble or bronze colored, if made of bronze. Well, we are all wrong. ColourLovers reveals here that researchers like Vinzenz Brinkmann now believe that mineral and organic pigments were used to paint bright colors on statues and bas-reliefs.
An exhibition in support of these findings, ‘Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity’ features more than 20 full-size color reconstructions of Greek and Roman works, alongside 35 original statues and reliefs. is running at Harvard University’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
I was right! Everything I knew was wrong!
40 Extremely Useful Photoshop PSD Templates from Graphic Mania
September 30, 2010
Photoshop PSD templates for business cards, DVD labels and cases, web sites, task bar buttons, film strips, desk top wall papers, Android icons, folder icons, iPhone 4G art and much more collected by Rafiq Elmansy of Graphic Mania. Find them all here. Thanks, Rafiq!
More Free Paper Textures for Downloading from Save/Delete
September 30, 2010
A collection of 10 sites that provide free paper textures for both personal and professional use from the good folks at Save/Delete. Thanks, guys! Go here for the links.
You Need these T-Shirts. Trust Me. SNORGtees
September 30, 2010
I know the growth of the Interwebs has had the unfortunate result of proliferating T-shirt vendors like Mars flies in a Klein bottle. But here’s one that you should check out. Clever designs that are actually funny – and today we need all the good T-shirt humor this country can muster! Go here for SNORGtees.
10 Useful Mac OSX Apps from Smash!ng Apps
September 30, 2010
OK, you know the drill: the cool cats and kittens at one of our favorite sites Smash!ng Apps have compiled yet another great list of useful OSX apps for the Mac faithful. Go get ’em here. Now move along, nothing to see here. . .
Clarity on Copyright: The Purpose of Copyright Law – It’s Not What You Think
August 16, 2010
In the digital age with the almost frictionless ability to reproduce audio, video and text the issue of copyright has entered the mainstream in a big way. No longer the rarified domain of intellectual property attorneys, copyright issues make the news with the regularity of the latest RIAA lawsuit over the unauthorized sharing of music files and the current sturm and drang over Wikileaks posting of the Afghan War Diary.
It seems people only remember the first half of Stewart Brand’s famous pronouncement in 1987, “Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive . . .That tension will not go away.” In 1984 at the first Hackers Conference, Brand put it in a more nuanced way:
“On the one hand information wants to be expensive, because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free, because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time. So you have these two fighting against each other.”
Thanks to the good folks at TechDirt for linking to this excellent article by attorney and associate professor Lydia Pallas Lorn of Northwestern’s School of Law of Lewis & Clark College, The Purpose of Copyright Law.
Copyright and patent law derives from a clause in the US constitution and “the primary purpose of copyright is not, as many people believe, to protect authors against those who would steal the fruits of their labor,” according to the author. The purpose of copyright is “to promote the progress of knowledge and learning.”
Pallas Loren traces the origin of this concept from English common law and the early publishing industry to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and beyond. I believe this is essential reading for anyone who creates content today – from the lowly blog scribe all the way up to Lady Gaga. Understanding copyright is necessary and Lydia Pallas Loren lays it all out clearly and definitively, in my opinion.
I wish the web contained more writing of this quality and thoughtfulness and less gossip, opinions, trivia and noise about disposable celebrities and manufactured scandals. ” ‘Tis of no importance what bats and oxen think.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Colorful Currency Worldwide from COLOURlovers
May 21, 2010
I’ve pulled your coat to the good folks at COLOURlovers before and here’s a wonderful selection of world currency employing a rainbow of color palettes, click here to see them all.
Design Inspiration: Over 500,000 Vintage Ads and Vintage Covers FREE!
May 5, 2010
The web has always been full of resources to help inspire good design, but never more so than presently. I’ve just come across two sister sites that are great for inspiration: a collection of over 100,000 vintage print ads and 450,000 plus covers from books, magazine and comic books.
So if you’re stuck for a new angle of approach for your current design project, or you just want to stroll through a digital history of ads and covers from the past Vintage Ad Browser and Cover Browser are your portals to over a half million designs at a price every designer can afford: FREE!
20,800 FREE Online Training Videos from VTC
April 20, 2010
By now Lynda.com has established itself as one of the premiere online sites for video training and tutorials. But they are not alone in this space. VTC Online & CD Computer Software Tutorials offers training in everything from Animation & 3D to Game Design & Development to Networking & Security.
The great thing about VTC is that they have over 20,000 FREE tutorials for you to check out. So if you’re looking to brush up on your skills or want to explore some new software prior to purchase, this a great site to explore.
55 High Resolution Photoshop Brushes from Colorburned
April 14, 2010
I love getting new brushes, layer styles and actions for Photoshop. The good folks over at Colorburned offer a selection of 15 high resolution PS brushes for creating moldy paper effects, here. Then, in a burst of generosity they throw in 40 high resolution ‘streak of light’ effect brushes here.
