A while back I was asked by Digital Artist magazine to approve the use of some of the free design resources that I put up on my site to download. They were to be included on some of their free CD’s that accompany the magazine.

I believe they have been included in an English and Malaysian edition. This week I got a sample sent through of a French version.


 

 
My french hasn’t been tested since I took my GCSE’s, but thanks to the wonder that is ‘Google translate’ the above passage reads as follows:
Vector shapes and vector style ink
kenreynoldsdesign.co.uk
One of the strengths of Illustrator is undoubtedly its clear lines, then of course we can not resist the temptation to try to make these lines look a bit grungy!
These forms and vectors in ink created by designer Ken Reynolds are perfect for adding a little attraction in ink. If this particular course section dedicated to drawing using ink inspired you, you might also spontaneously reproduce this into digital form in this case these are for you.

Maybe not the greatest accolade, but I thought it was worth sharing with you all. It’s not every day that I see my name in print, especially in French!

The resources are still available to download on this site too:
Free Illustrator Scribble Vectors
Illustrator Ink Vectors
Photoshop Ink Brushes
Illustrator Ink Brushes – Set 1
Illustrator Ink Brushes – Set 2

We all scribble and doodle, but do we ever use them? I figured that I might try to start so here are a set of my scribbles that I’ve turned into vector shapes, I hope you will find them useful.

This vector set is free to download.

I hope they are useful to you. I’ve made the set available as an Illustrator CS2 file and an Illustrator 10 file.

To download the CS2 .ai file, click the link below:

Download Scribble Vectors – Ilustrator CS2 .ai file

To download the Illustrator 10 .ai file, click the link below:

Download Scribble Vectors – Ilustrator 10 .ai file

These vectors are completely free for personal and commercial use. The only thing I ask is that if you do find them useful let me know. I’d love to see your final results, and then display them within this post.

Thank you to everyone that took the time to enter.
The winner of “How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your soul” by Adrian Shaughnessy, is:

Iain Fergus

Congratulations to him, and better luck next time to everyone else!

I’d appreciate any feedback of suggestions you might have for further competitions or any general musings you might want to offer about my blog in general. Please get in touch.

Thank you all once again.

This competition is now closed, however, please feel free to contribute to the discussion in the comments section.

I’m giving away a copy of “How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your soul by Adrian Shaughnessy. I reviewed this book last week and found the content to be helpful and inspiring. So I want pass the opportunity on to someone else.

I’m a great believer in books, I love knowledge, and good knowledge should always be passed on, so that’s what I’m doing.

I have 1 copy to give away (that’s all I could afford this time). All you have to do to enter is be part of the discussion in the comments section of this blog post.
One part of the book that I found interesting regarded how important it is for a designer to live and work by a few simple principles. Maybe you only work for companies that have good environmental policies, or you would refuse work from a company that did something you disagree with? I want to know what principles you work to, if any. Alternatively, I’d like to hear your argument if you disagree with that statement and you think business is business regardless.

I will moderate each comment, if I feel it is relevant and decide to approve it you can consider that an acceptance of entry. If your comment doesn’t appear in the thread it has been declined. My judgement is final on this and I’m only stipulating it as a way of avoiding ‘empty’ entries. I want to give the books away, but I also want a bit of discussion.
Feel free to post multiple times to carry on with a discussion, but you will only be entered once.

Another way to enter is to sign up to my email notifications. Everyone that signs up will automatically go into the draw.

If you decide to participate in the discussion AND sign up to my email notifications, you will be entered into the draw twice.

I will keep the discussion open until 12 noon (UK) Wednesday (17/11/2009) and announce the winners on Thursday (18/2/2009). The winner will be notified by email.

The winner will be the first entry selected at random.

I’m happy to post the book worldwide, but I cannot be held responsible for how long it will take to reach you or any extra charges that might be incurred through customs etc. The book will be posted from the UK.

Good luck!

This ink brush set is free to download.

I hope they are useful to you. I’ve made the set available as an Illustrator CS2 file and an Illustrator 10 file.

To download the CS2 .ai file, click the link below:

Download Ink Brush Set 2 – Ilustrator CS2 .ai file

To download the Illustrator 10 .ai file, click the link below:

Download Ink Brush Set 2 – Ilustrator 10 .ai file

These brushes are completely free for personal and commercial use. The only thing I ask is that if you do find them useful let me know. I’d love to see your final results, and then display them within this post.

This ink brush set is free to download.

I hope they are useful to you. I’ve made the set available as an Illustrator CS2 file and an Illustrator 10 file.

To download the CS2 .ai file, click the link below:

Download Ink Brush Set 1 – Ilustrator CS2 .ai file

To download the Illustrator 10 .ai file, click the link below:

Download Ink Brush Set 1 – Ilustrator 10 .ai file

These brushes are completely free for personal and commercial use. The only thing I ask is that if you do find them useful let me know. I’d love to see your final results, and then display them within this post.

These ink blot vectors are free to download.

These should compliment the photoshop ink brush set I put up a few weeks ago.

I’ve put these up as well because they feature quite heavily in a tutorial I’m working on and hope to publish here in the next few weeks.

Other than that I hope they are useful to you. I’ve made the set available as an Illustrator CS2 file and an Illustrator 10 file.

To download the CS2 .eps file, click the link below:

Download Vector Ink Set – Ilustrator CS2 .eps file

To download the Illustrator 10 .eps file, click the link below:

Download Vector Ink Set – Ilustrator 10 .eps file

These brushes are completely free for personal and commercial use. The only thing I ask is that if you do find them useful let me know. I’d love to see your final results, and then display them within this post.

I’ve made these Ink Blot Photoshop brushes available for download.

I work mostly with vectors in Illustrator, but I’ve started to use Photoshop a bit more recently in an attempt to keep myself up to date. This is the first brush set I’ve made myself in quite a while, so I thought I’d pass them on to my readers. I’ve made them as high resolution as possible, most go up to 2000px and some go to the maximum 2500px. I hope you find them useful.

To download click the link below:

Download Ink Brush Set

Installation:

1. Download the file and unzip it.

2. Copy the file (Ink Set KRD.abr) to your Photoshop/Presets/Brushes folder.

3. In your Photoshop Brushes palette, click on the arrow in the upper right and click on “Load Brushes.”

4. Find the file and load it (Photoshop/Presets/Brushes/Ink Set KRD.abr)

When you restart Photoshop you will not have to load the file, it will be in the list of Brush Libraries.

These brushes are completely free for personal and commercial use. The only thing I ask is that if you do find them useful let me know. I’d love to see your final results, and then display them within this post.

Thank you to everyone that took the time to enter.
The three people that will be receiving a copy of ‘Wally Olins: The Brand Handbook’ are:

John Gooderson
Carolyn Harrath
Tim Newton

Congratulations to them, and better luck next time to everyone else!

I’ve enjoyed running my first competition, and plan to do more in the future. I’d appreciate any feedback of suggestions you might have for further competitions or any general musings you might want to offer about my blog in general. Please get in touch.

Thank you all once again.

This competition is now closed, however, please feel free to contribute to the discussion in the comments section.

I’m giving away 3 copies of “The Brand Handbook” by Wally Olins. I reviewed this book earlier in the week and was impressed with the amount of information it delivers in a compact and concise way. This book is not specifically designers, it is aimed at a broader audience. Anyone that might be concerned with branding of any type will find useful information between it’s covers.

I’m a great believer in books, I love knowledge, and good knowledge should always be passed on, so that’s what I’m doing. You can read my review of this book in an earlier post.

I have 3 copies to give away.
All you have to do to enter is be part of the discussion in the comments section of this blog post. I’ll get the ball rolling with a simple branding related question, then it’s up to you to chip in. If you don’t feel like you can continue the discussion just give me a good example of a brand that you feel is successful and a few reasons why you think it is.
Alternatively you could simply leave a comment suggesting improvements I could make to my blog, or the sort of articles you would like to read.

I will moderate each comment, if I feel it is relevant and decide to approve it you can consider that an acceptance of entry. If your comment doesn’t appear in the thread it has been declined. My judgement is final on this and I’m only stipulating it as a way of avoiding ‘empty’ entries. I want to give the books away, but I also want a bit of discussion.

Feel free to post multiple times to carry on with a discussion, but you will only be entered once.

Another way to enter is to sign up to my email notifications. Everyone that signs up will automatically go into the draw.

If you decide to participate in the discussion AND sign up to my email notifications, you will be entered into the draw TWICE.

I will keep the discussion open until 12 noon (UK) Sunday (29/11/2009) and announce the winners on Monday (30/11/2009). Winners will be notified by email.

The winners will be the first three entries selected at random.

I’m happy to post these books worldwide, but I cannot be held responsible for how long it will take to reach you or any extra charges that might be incurred through customs etc. The books will be posted from the UK.

Good luck.