Starting next month I will be hosting two design challenges a month. After 2023 I stopped hosting the creatober challenge because it simply wasn't fun for myself anymore. The weight of having to do a design and record the process and then editing that video down to content for 31 days straight just wasn't something I felt comfortable to keep doing. That being said, over the years I also had some questions about hosting new design challenges, since the last one was held over 3 years ago now. And boy did I used to love those! (Fun fact, that's how I discovered @mun15h 's work, who since then has grown immensely as a creative) So I've been thinking of a way to make design challenges fun in two ways: motivate my community to start designing and sharing more while also keeping it challenging enough for myself while keeping it burnout proof. So starting from August I will partially livestream my design process for each challenge while livestreaming me giving the community feedback in the week that follows. Another thing I wanted to do is make this less dependent on the social media algorithms. I've been reading a lot about the negative aspects of social media on a personal level. On top of that I've been seeing my audience drop steadily over the past year which is conserning for me, since Dreadlabs is 50% of my income. So after some thinking I wanted to make Dreadlabs less dependable on social media platforms. That's why you can find the design promps on my website. There is an RSS feed on my Discord which automatically notifies you when a new briefing is posted. If people are interested, I can make a guide so that you can get a notification when a new briefing is posted without you having to hope that the algorhithm will show it to you. That's just one of the things I will be working on in the future. Another upside for you having to check the website for creative stuff like design briefings is that you'll get less distracted by notifications and slop popping up on your screen. Anyways, more about this soon, for now you can check out the prompts that are ready so far through the link in my bio!
The past couple of months I worked on figuring out how to design posters and album covers and make them look like they come straightt out of the late 90's and early 2000's. During this process I've created 3D renders, recorded Photoshop actions and revised and tested them over and over again. All of this work comes together in Dreadlabs Trance Essentials. 3D Renders of all types, Vector Elements, Photoshop Actions, Layer Styles, all you need to design something from this (for me at least) nostalgic era. I know the cover says 15 bucks, but for the rest of the month of April the pack is at a 5 bucks discount. So if you grab a copy before May 1st you'll get yours for just 10 bucks. That's only 10 cents per asset!
I'm looking to take on new inspiring projects for the coming months! Do you have a challenge for me? Let me know by sending me a DM or checking out my portfolio website!
I've been so busy with client work an converting my van into a camper that I haven't had a lot of time to do stuff for myself or Dreadlabs. But this week I've been working on an AE template / tool that let's you customize all kinds of cool stuff using Dithering. I want to share this file as beta for a discount on my website soon, but also share a free tutorial if you want to re-create this yourself. Anyways, swipe for some experiments and let me know if you have a cool name for this template!
Some recent client work for some of my favorite local spots @013poppodium / nulnuldertien and @etalage.rec showcase at @degintilburg , wrapped into this amazing showcase slides designed by @eve.kslv .
👉 For commission work, send me an email or check out my portfolio website!
Designed a poster for a fake event featuring some of my favorite producers at the moment. My full design process for this poster went up last week on my YT Channel if you want to check that out.
Again, fake event but real artists, give them a listen:
@amorsatyr@k_65_uk@villagersound@same____o@aloka_music@siumata
Black Friday Week Starts today! 25% off all asset packs on the webstore. That includes discount bundles, so you'll save a bunch! Check it out now on my website.
Showvisuals I designed for @rickywest.jpg during his set at @rampage.international . It was a ton of fun to turn my friend into a low-poly ps1 character, as well as learning about dithered 3D textures, UV mapping and all sorts of things that I didn't know about yet. Swipe to see some of the visuals in action!
Inventory selectrion screen visual by @potz.dsgn
Although I just uploaded another tutorial on my YouTube channel, last friday I uploaded an extra tutorial for the effect in this animation on my website. It's free to watch, the catch is that you can only view it through my website rather than through YouTube. I did this as an incentive to have people visit my websit more often rather than my YouTube channel, where I depend on an algorithm. The upside for you is that you can browse through my tutorials and filter by softtware, style, difficulty and much more. I hope it's worth checking out!
For @burnrmusic me and the team @eve.kslv and @potz.dsgn worked on the visual identity for @cmstrysound , debuting at @hemkade48 during ADE. Swipe to see some of our experiments, unused proposals and alternative colorways.
Case study designed by @eve.kslv
Next Month on Patreon we'll have some fine PSD Templates for you to use freely in your own work. We have a halftone Inkbleed effect, an X-Ray effect and just before this month starts I will also be adding another file based on a new website-exclusive tutorial. More on that next monday! Check out my Patreon through the link in my bio. Also, shoutout to @eve.kslv for designing the slides on this one. She's been killing it lately!
Cover artwork that I recently designed for a video showcasing Trance Essentials, an asset pack containing 92 different tools to help you create this gem of an era. The pack contains old school 3D renders in high resolution, but also layer styles, photoshop actions and more. My favorite Photoshop Action in the pack is a quick method to simply compress the quality of your images to make it look like it was actually created on an old computer in the 90's. What a time do we live in, right? Instead of going for perfect, crisp images we strive to put our heart and soul into perfecting that imperfect look. How poetic. Anyways, you can grab Trance Essentials on my link in bio!
