I posted one of Andy Gilmore's pieces on the COLOURlovers Facebook page a few weeks back. While digging deeper into the site, I found myself in awe over every single piece. I don't have enough space to feature them all on this blog post, but I would highly recommend checking out his entire collection of work if you are as impressed as I am by this small feature.

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Creating magazine covers is nothing new for Andy. He shows plenty of them in his body of work. I do however remember this Wired issue which I thought was great when I saw this. Opposite of Wired is the cover he created for the New York Times Key Magazine.

Here are a series of excellent pieces using bright colors and some very modern shapes.

 

Source for all images: Andy Gilmore

What do you think of this art? Would you use these patterns on something fun such as your iPhone case or throw pillows? Let us know what you think.

Hello again! Today is the exciting day that we get to announce the winners of the Betabrand Argyle Sock Design Contest!

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First of all, we want to thank Betabrand for allowing COLOURlovers to design the next product on their website. As I am sure you know by now, Betabrand has some pretty awesome clothes to choose from. The question to yourself won't be whether to buy, but instead, which color or pattern should you pick.

As you know, Betabrand chose 9 finalists and for the past week we have left it up to you guys to vote for your favorite design. Now comes the time when we announce  which designs had the most votes. First, let's refresh you all on the prizes for the winners:

The Prizes:

The Betabrand design team will select three winners, who'll receive the following:

• $100 Gift Card to Betabrand
• Recognition on the Betabrand website (photos/video/optional) & COLOURlover username printed on the sock packaging
• Five Three Packs of the COLOURlover socks bundles for free

So now, let's get down to business and announce the brand new COLOURlovers sock collection!

Congrats to Magg, Michaelann3, Faith4faith! Thanks to everyone who entered and voted in this contest. We hope to have Betabrand here again soon as you COLOURlovers can help them create something else just as awesome!

Today we are featuring an awesome artist and giving you all a bit of an insight into the creative process behind his pieces of art. Each piece is bright and vibrant and  each tell a story.

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This talented artist started small and kept, all the while he gained more and more traction in the blogosphere and now you can see his art work featured all over. The artist behind it all is Adam Sidwell, AKA The Skid. Check out his Tumblr for lots more pieces are art that are not featured here, you'll definitely get lost in the great color palettes and pieces he has created.

First up, why don't you tell the community a bit about who you are, what you do, how long you have been doing it.
I was into illustrating as a kid. In 2010 I started doing weekly drawings of pop culture, started taking requests, and would post one online each week. The blog started gaining traction after some time and I started freelancing.

What past experiences do you think have contributed the most to where you are now?
Growing up as a kid in the 80's, playing video games and watching movies like rambo and terminator, that had the most influence on me in terms of content.

How do you choose your color palettes?

Generally I kind of stick to 6 colors. I primarily use green, yellow, red, orange, purple, blue. I usually use a lot of complimentary colors in the same series. As long as the colors are bright and vibrant there is really no method to the madness to the way I choose colors.

What colors do you think we will see a lot of in 2012?
I started out using very traditional colors but I like more neon and vibrant colors. I did a series of video game box posters and the way those colors blended together are my favorite colors of any piece.

What is your general design process?
I stick to thumb-nailing and sketching. Then I take it into photoshop and I usually redraw the image because I don't use a wacom board the first time around. I like to get the feel of real pen and paper. I print out the wacom board drawing on water color paper and watercolor it, then rescan it then touch it up. Then the color palette comes to form and I start creating from there.

As an artist, what is the best advice you have ever received?
There is always going to be someone more talented than you but you can always work harder than them. I'm from the midwest, hard work ethic is what I grew up with. I was a part of a blue collar family and it is transformed to the digital sense.

Source: All Photos by Adam Sidwell

When you are feeling stumped, where do you turn for inspiration?
Tumblr, but it is sort of  bad because I get stuck. I don't explore that much outside of that.

What's one thing you tell designers that are just starting out?
I feel like a lot of people take things too personally, whether it comes to critiquing or posting and not getting likes then giving up. I started out and my friends at work and my mom were basically the only one's following me. I kept at it and the blog gained footing and things took off. That never would have happened if I just gave up. It is kind of hard receiving negative criticism. I see artists start up and get discouraged and though they are creating awesome art work they give up. Basically, just keep going and going.

 

We are back with an update on the Betabrand Sock Design contest we have been running on our blog for the past week. Submissions are officially closed for the contest, and it is time to get your vote on and help us pick the winning designs.

 

Betabrand is one of those really cool clothing companies that is sure to keep the men dapper and the women trendy at all times. Their latest release is a cool pair of shorts with a black & white design (with a hint of turquoise) that I think is pretty awesome. And in case you haven't heard this enough, COLOURlovers even has a collection of our own on the Betabrand website.

So let's get down to business. Submissions are now closed for the Betabrand contest. Thank you to everyone who has entered and voted!

Out the top 30 most-loved palettes Betabrand chose 9 design finalists and from there 3 will triumph as winners. The three winners will be bundled into a 3-pack and sold on the Betabrand website.

 

Voting is incredibly easy. All you have to do is head over to the Betabrand Contest Page and click to vote. You can only choose 1 to vote for, so make sure your choose your favorite. And to make things even more fun, 5 lucky voters will be randomly selected to win a free 3-pack of socks as well!

Good luck to all and happy voting! We will be back on Monday to announce the winners!

 

Ready to put your color-matching talents to good use? Betabrand is offering you a chance to design their next set of socks. They have created the argyle design, and you get the chance to color the coolest sock you can and possibly have YOUR creation sold by Betabrand. How cool is that?

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Betabrand is an online-only clothing company based in San Francisco that produces unique designs in limited-edition batches every week. They make tons of hip clothes for both men and women. And look, there is even a batch of COLOURlovers pieces including 2 flannel shirts (here and here) and some cool sock designs created by COLOURlovers.

The Prizes:

The Betabrand design team will select three winners, who'll receive the following:

• $100 Gift Card to Betabrand
• Recognition on the Betabrand website (photos/video/optional) & COLOURlover username printed on the sock packaging
• Five Three Packs of the COLOURlover socks bundles for free

How It Works:

Create an entry: Get creative and make a palette to design this argyle sock however you choose. You may create up to 3 submissions.

Once you have created the coolest palette, time to get votes. Share your entry with your friends and try your best to get lots of love on your sock. The 30 most-loved submissions with be considered for the top 9 finalist spots. Check back on Tuesday April 24, to see the top 9 finalists and to vote for you the one you want to win.

Once you have created your entry, check out the designs other people are creating and vote for your favorite. Good luck and happy coloring!

Crayola has been the standard for crayons, and at least partially responsible for bringing color naming to the mainstream for 126 years now.  The crayons and color names have come a long way from the standard 8 color crayon box of black, blue, red, green, brown, yellow, violet, and orange.

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Over the years they've added plenty of new colors to their line of wax crayons but not all of those can still be found today. Some of those  colors have been discontinued or renamed, for various reasons, and since 1998 they've maintain a core collection of 120 colors, (check out our post 'All 120 Crayon Names and Color Codes' here in the COLOURlovers blog to see them all and grab their digital code equivalents).

The retired colors.

Retired colors are tucked away in the Crayola Hall of Fame but that's no place for color! So here we look back at those colors that are no longer at our finger tips but can live forever in our digital coloring books. Click on the colors to grab their digital equivalent from the COLOURlovers' library.

Header image from Wikipedia

Color-blocking has become all the rage in fashion these days. As far as handbags go, designers are following suit by offering their most popular designs in a variety of hit colors of the season. These choices allow you to spruce up any look, and add that pop of color in any of your favorite outfits.

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These bags are not the only ones to fall in line with this new trend, no matter the price point, the designer or the look you want, you will find a variety of colors popping up in your favorite bag. With spring just around the corner, this is a great piece to lighten up your winter wardrobe.

Source: Balenciaga

Love is most often associated with the color red. Be that by conditioning of incessant advertising or that we are drawn to it by nature. Secondary to red is of course pink, in almost any level of saturation.

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Red is one of those colors that possesses the strongest Ying and Yang of its theoretical definitions. Between love and hate, rebirth and death, the human relationship in any combination, could literally be summed up in the meaning of the color Red. Pink has what I would describe as a temperamental scale, more based on softness versus loudness than the extreme left or right end of the spectrum.

"Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love." - paper-leaf.com // COLOR THEORY poster freebie

As we know, colors can generate a wide variety of emotions. Red might be the most diverse and along with pink, a tag-along little sister, many other colors in tow can lend a visual message of love a great big pop!

Falling in Love by Etsy artist,  DJEMBE & CANVAS

"Cranes represent longevity and grace. The flocks ascend our champagne symphony, where love is blessed upon those who simply believe." - posted by artist at the listing

The artist gave us a wonderfully light feeling with this palette and the birds adding further motion. I also like how the painting balances the realities of "love" with a little bit of darkness in the bottom right corner. What do you think of this palette and representation of falling in love?

Poster design is a really fun, inexpensive and unique way to explore your creative side. From the 1,000's of fonts, variety of poster sizes, and layouts, sometimes, it's difficult to know where to start!

Once you master your design techniques visit Next Day Flyers for fast poster printing at great prices.

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Today we are interviewing Jessica Sprague, design guru and owner of JessicaSprague.com. In February, Jessica is heading off a four week Poster Design course. She is also giving away not one, but TWO seats to this really awesome class! I couldn't be more excited about the class after taking Jessica's Subway Art class. I'm a busy mom, so I don't have a whole lot of time to join in a live class, which is why I love Jessica's classes- they are self-paced and available forever!

Follow Jessica: Twitter & Facebook

Can you tell us about yourself, how long have you been designing? Teaching? Do you have a job outside of JS.com?

In my former life I was a web & user interface designer for a software company, so I've been designing in some form or another for about 14 years. I started teaching digital scrapbooking, Photoshop, and graphic design in 2007 when I opened  JessicaSprague.com. Since then it is my full-time job, and I love it!

What three (or less) singular colors do you most identify with, why?

My favorite color is green - I love it in almost all of its shades from lime to olive. It's the color of growth and regeneration, of calm energy, of prosperity, learning, balance, and harmony.

If you had to describe yourself [currently] as a five color palette, what colors would they be? Could you provide me with HEX codes so I can create a JS palette for you? :)

I feel like I am a blue, two greens, and a red, coupled with a dark grey. Hex: aed835, d9ea65, 81c9c0, a90c19, a90c19

The greens I've already described. The blue is an ocean representing responsibility, stability, trustworthiness. The red represents fire and emotion, and the dark grey brings some gravity, but also represents the dark that balances the lighter, fresher colors.

If you could be a shape, what shape would you be? (i.e. a polygon = triangle, hexagon etc...)

I would be a 5-pointed star. :)

 

Erin Loechner is a writer, stylist and designer. She is a quirky girl with lots of style and a great swagger about her. Everything she publishes on her site, Design For Mankind, pushes the envelope just enough to keep you interested and excited about trends and styles. She has graced the pages of many magazines all the while keeping up with trends and colors on her HGTV.com segment.

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First up, why don't you tell the community a bit about who you are, what you do, how long you have been doing it, and your background. 

I'm Erin Loechner, a 28-year-old freelance design writer and blogger (DesignForMankind.com). I dabble into styling, consulting and rearranging the furniture of any willing party! I'm also an online personality for HGTV.com.