The Mascot for the 2010 world cup has recently been unveiled. I was eager to see what he/she/it looks like and was impressed when I laid my eyes on the little green leopard.

The name Zakumi is a combination of 'ZA' for South Africa, and 'kumi' meaning 10 in some African languages. The character is cute, lively and definitely better than most of the previous FIFA mascots.

Being a designer I can’t help but put in my 10cents worth about the design itself. When I think of the Leopard, I think lean, mean and fast. The people in Africa (especially the soccer players) are also mostly tall, lean people. Zakumi looks a little bit like a midget with short stumpy legs that can’t really pull off breathtaking feats of football acrobatics.
I would have liked the mascot more if Zakumi had these athletic traits of the Leopard and the people.

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I have always wanted to design my own tshirts and have on occasion printed a design of my own on a shirt, only to see that it came out really crappy and ended up being a dustrag.

Since I joined Springleap, I have gone from a person that really likes cool t-shirts, to a t-shirt addict. I walk around eyeing out peoples tees with a very critical eye, haha. I have been caught staring more than once.

Everyone want to design a kickass t-shit. Some have the natural ability to put pen or stylus down and give birth to some amazing designs. Others have the imagination, but struggle to put down what they see inside their craniums.

For those, there are vector packs and resources you can use to bring your ideas to life. Don't worry about some people that burn you for using stock material. In my opinion, a good designer uses all the resources available to him to design and create.

Check out this great tutorial: Designing Ultra sceneXcore apparel
http://www.gomediazine.com/tutorials/designing-ultra-scenexcore-apparel/

Something I am doing now is researching colours. You can have a great design, but then mess it up using the wrong colours. Software like Adobe Illustrator have colour palettes that help a lot, but you still need a fundamental knowledge of what looks good together, and what does not.

I am totally hooked, and I don't think I am the only one :)

check out the site at: www.springleap.com

Go forth and Design!

Opening up Photoshop for the first time can quickly put off any budding graphic artist.
So... many ... buttons!

Photoshop has some good walkthroughs, but the only way you will learn to effectively use Photoshop is to start  doing some eye candy tutorials. This introduces you to some cool tools, good design methods and leaves you less intimidated by the software.

Heres one I did:

Its a simple but effective effect. Learn to do these with your eyes closed and you'll soon be talking Klingon to the untrained ear!
Bevels this, Channels that, Gaussian blur, BRU!  O_O

Find this tutorial and other on this great site:
www.phong.com