Hand-drawn illustrations add personality and depth to websites by bringing the digital world in conjunction with the physical. I love seeing hand-drawn illustrations on internet because it adds a sense of character to the page itself. These sites are some of my favorites that feature hand-drawn illustrations.

Just Dot: I love how this website combines the trendy chalkboard element with hand drawn graphics and a sketched font.

Bowtie: features a completely hand drawn background with hand written fonts and other styles of typeface. I love the colors and interactive layout of this site as well.

Bootb: this site utilizes a hand written type face as well as hand drawn doodle frames to create a friendly landing page. I like the different colored frames on the black background along with hand drawn buildings.

Denise Chandler: this designer's site features an awesome hand drawn image that has been animated, as well as, a variety of quirky and cool hand drawn fonts.

Carsonifide: uses fun text bubbles and hand drawn graphics to highlight the important parts of their site.

Tennessee Education: I love all of the cool hand drawn doodles that are found throughout the site. This site really brings education to life by adding hand drawn elements on top of writing paper.

Products from Creative Market to help you enhance your site with hand drawn elements and illustrations.

The key to making a website or blog with hand drawn illustrations is to combine hand written or drawn fonts along with intricate hand drawn images, lines, and vectors. Creative Market, offers a variety of hand drawn elements to help you create an amazing website like the ones featured above.

Sketched Font                                    Handwritten Font

Hand Drawn Frames                               Hand Drawn Arrows

Hand Drawn Photo Corners                              Hand Drawn Arrows

Hand Drawn Photoshop Brushes                                Hand Drawn Hearts

Doodled Frames                                  Hand Drawn Social Media Icons

Hand Drawn Flowers

This guest post is written by Alex Black. Alex writes for printing company Print Express. In his spare time he enjoys studying graphic and web design and works on his Photoshop skills. You can follow him on Twitter at @iamalexblack.

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As the saying goes, you only have one chance to make a first impression. When you’re marketing a product or service, if your landing page doesn’t make a great first impression then it’s unlikely that visitors will return, much less use your product. Good landing pages show off the product, sell it’s benefits and do a good job of leaving the visitor with the impression that it’s well designed. Great landing pages, on the other hand, do all this and also stick in your memory – they stand out and are remarkable.

Of course, this is much easier said than done – how do you create a landing page that’s remarkable, and memorable while still being beautifully designed instead of garish? One of the ways in which you can do this is to focus on creating a tastefully bright, vibrant and colourful design. Use a bold, daring colour palette – or use subtle, muted colours but with bright, impossible-to-miss contrasts on the buttons you want users to click (like the “sign up” or “try the demo” buttons).

The use of colour in landing pages is an art form in itself, and we’ve brought this collection of designs together to help give you some inspiration for your next landing page project. We hope you find the collection useful and entertaining.

Viximo

Viximo is a company that works with developers to get their games published online. The landing page stands out instantly by using big, bold illustration and the muted colour palette grabs attention without being too garish.

What happens when a love of beer and a love of color come together in one awesome project? The answer is Beertone.

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Created by a two man team in Switzerland, Beertone wants to combine beautiful design and beer into a fun and useful resource for anyone that loves either. Right now you can pre-order their beer color chart in one of three different packages, two of which include sweet Beertone branded mugs.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and boy has this latest GelaSkins contest been really good. Huge thanks to everyone that contributed and voted in this contest, and an especially big thank you to the folks at GelaSkins that made this whole thing possible.

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The GelaSkins brand was born from a passion for great design. That's why they work with the world's most creative minds, bringing stunning artwork to any device. The GelaSkins library is rounded out with thousands of works by established and up-and-coming independent artists, classics by the Masters, and patterns by renowned designers. Notable partnerships include National Geographic, Tim Burton and Norman Rockwell. Expressing individual style is easy with thousands of designs to choose from and simple tools to help create a unique look for any device. Personalize phones, tablets, laptops, e-readers and more!

By now you've hopefully had a chance to check out their latest HardCase product line. The HardCase by GelaSkins for iPhone 5 is a tough, polycarbonate, snap-on case. It's available in a wide array of great designs by artists from around the world. You can even be the artist and design your own – import family photos, company logos, or patterns you've created at COLOURlovers.com.

For this contest, you COLOURlovers were tasked with creating a design for GelaSkins new HardCase. There were a ton of amazing designs entered, and it was tough, but the GelaSkins staff was able to narrow down the entries and select a winner. Without further adieu, the next GelaSkins artist is...

Boy, you all have really been bringing your a-game for this latest design contest! For two weeks we've watched the amazing HardCase designs roll in and now it's time to switch gears into the voting part of the contest. But before we do that, let's take a moment to thank the awesome folks over at GelaSkins that have made this whole thing possible.

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The GelaSkins brand was born from a passion for great design. That's why they work with the world's most creative minds, bringing stunning artwork to any device. The GelaSkins library is rounded out with thousands of works by established and up-and-coming independent artists, classics by the Masters, and patterns by renowned designers. Notable partnerships include National Geographic, Tim Burton and Norman Rockwell. Expressing individual style is easy with thousands of designs to choose from and simple tools to help create a unique look for any device. Personalize phones, tablets, laptops, e-readers and more!

We're currently running a contest with the awesome folks at GelaSkins to see who will join them as their next artist. Earlier this year, we ran a similar contest and the talented COLOURlover that won was Sylvie Demers. Since her winning design was selected, Sylvie has become an artist with GelaSkins, and you can now buy her designs on their website.

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She was kind enough to answer a few questions for us and we're excited to share our conversation with you guys. Thanks Sylvie!

We had so much fun with our GelaSkins contest earlier this year, we're excited to say we've cooked up another awesome one for you guys. This time you get to create a design for their new iPhone 5 HardCase for a shot at becoming the next GelaSkins artist!

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The GelaSkins brand was born from a passion for great design. That's why they work with the world's most creative minds, bringing stunning artwork to any device. The GelaSkins library is rounded out with thousands of works by established and up-and-coming independent artists, classics by the Masters, and patterns by renowned designers. Notable partnerships include National Geographic, Tim Burton and Norman Rockwell. Expressing individual style is easy with thousands of designs to choose from and simple tools to help create a unique look for any device. Personalize phones, tablets, laptops, e-readers and more!

The HardCase by GelaSkins for iPhone 5 is a tough, polycarbonate, snap-on case. It's available in a wide array of great designs by artists from around the world. You can even be the artist and design your own – import family photos, company logos, or patterns you've created at COLOURlovers.com.

Howdy COLOURlovers! We've had a great time browsing through all of your colorful website design entries for the past week. It's like you guys know a thing or two about color. ;)

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This contest was brought to you by our friends at Squarespace. Squarespace's mission is to provide creative tools that power the future of the web. From designers creating the next generation of web and mobile experiences, to anyone managing their own online presence for the first time, Squarespace provides elegant solutions that set new standards for online publishing. By focusing their efforts on the fusion of design and engineering, they strive to create long-lasting products that delight and surprise their customers.

This is a friendly reminder that the entry period for this contest ends TODAY at 6pm Pacific. Which means now is the time to go vote for your favorite designs! Voting will remain open until this Sunday, September 23rd, at 10pm Pacific, and we'll be announcing the winners here on the blog on Monday, September 24th.

It’s easy to become entrapped in images of picturesque, snow-capped mountains; sparkling, blue and white rapids; and gold-dusted plains when you think of Colorful Colorado, but what you don’t think about are the many shades of beer this vibrant state has to offer. With 140+ breweries statewide, Colorado serves up various hues of porters, ales, stouts, sours, and more from the freshest barleys and hops west of the Mississippi.

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Sean Buchan is a Colorado-based photographer specializing in beer photography, or “beertography” as he likes to call it. His photographs expose the myriad of colors found in Colorado beers, as well as give you a glimpse into the vivid backdrop in which Colorado beers are produced.

source: Sean Buchan

Many of Colorado’s best brew flavors start with hops. These hops are from Voss Farms in Arvada, Colorado, where Cascade, Centennial, Willamette, and Chinook hops are grown. The popping greens scream summer and life.

If you were a kid in the '80s, chances are you remember Teddy Ruxpin. In the '90s? One word: Furby. Well in 2012, a new fledgling company is looking to revolutionize toys for the iGeneration.

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Ubooly is a Boulder-based startup that successfully funded a Kickstarter campaign back in April. Just three months later, they are gearing up to start shipping units to excited kids and grownups everywhere.

What exactly is an Ubooly you ask? It's a smart toy powered by your smart phone to help teach your smart kids through meaningful interactions. Recommended for ages 4-9, Ubooly uses voice recognition and ongoing updates to make sure it's the smartest toy. Pretty smart, wouldn't you say?

Before they launch, Ubooly wants you to unleash your inner child with a fun contest that just happens to be right up our COLOURlovin' alley. Oh yeah, I'm talking about a coloring contest!

Ending on July 25 @ 8:00 PM (MDT), the Ubooly Coloring Contest is simple to enter. Just check out their Facebook page, print out and then upload one of their adorable coloring pages, infused with your personal style. You can submit either scans or photos of your colorings and you can submit an entry each day to increase your chances of winning.

The two winners will get their very own Ubooly and the first place winner also gets a brand new iPod touch -- a sweet deal for an activity you probably did a million times as a kid.

Cheers and happy coloring!