With the launch of our design content marketplace, CreativeMarket.com coming soon we thought it would be fun to take a look at the most popular design elements in movie posters from 2011. After all, it's the carefully & creatively designed marketing materials for the movies are what get us to the theater.
(honestly, the best selling designs at the movie theater these days are the concessions stands... $6 for a bottle of water?!) The designers capture our attention, but the real success of a blockbuster movie will be determined by the quality of the film itself (not including #4 on the list below)... Let's take a look.

What Will 2012 Bring?

What movie are you most excited about for 2012? What design elements do you think will dominate this year?

The DNA11 Palette Contest has come to a close with a staggering 6,000 plus entries of which one (1) winner and four (4) runner-ups are now announced! The mix of science and art proved to be quite intriguing. So without further delay, the winner is...

Under my Skin by BerryColor

BerryColor won a palette-customized, 24 x 36” DNA Portrait. Additionally, this beautiful palette will be added to the DNA11 collection for future use in their line of personalized DNA Art.

The DNA11 Palette Contest was a huge success thanks to many COLOURlovers artists. Finalists have been determined from over 6,000 entries and the final round of voting is now open! Ten (10) Finalists have been selected with COLOURlovers LOVES, five (5) of which will receive prizes.

DNA11 is hosting the final voting on their Facebook Page - facebook.com/dnaart, so head on over and place your vote!

VOTE NOW

To vote, you need to LIKE the DNA11 Facebook page. Choose the DNA11 Artwork Palette you would like to vote for and click on the thumbs-up below it. If you are not already on the voting panel, it is located in the left menu under, COLOURlovers.

Make sure you vote ON the DNA11 Facebook Page, NOT on COLOURlovers.com.

Voting will last until Thursday, November. 10th at midnight (12am) PDT. Winners will be announced Friday, November 11th.

Finalists

In no particular order, the 10 finalists are:

Tranquility by ChairmanCao

When I glow up... by jazminredux

moon trip by sirda

Dog DNA by Miaka

ROCKIN TOWERS by rubyvillasenor

Peace in the Blood by OrigamiMei

Under my Skin by BerryColor

DNA by Any Palacios

big city lights by earlgrey

Art is in my DNA by synthetic innocence

Winners & Prizes

First prize: One finalist will be voted as the winner. The winner will receive a 24x36 DNA Portrait (value $500) their palette becomes a permanent part of the DNA 11 collection.
Secondary prizes: Four runners up will receive $250 DNA 11 gift certificate and their palettes also become a permanent part of the DNA 11 collection.

Good luck to the finalists!

There's just something beautiful about a friendship bracelet. I don't know if it's the 454 gorgeous colors DMC offers. The few materials needed to create something beautiful. Or the ease of making the bracelet itself, and how relaxing it can be. As a child, I have fond memories of making bracelets with my girlfriends.

(source)

For as long as I can remember, I have always been an entrepreneur. While most kids' first business is the adorable lemonade stand, mine, was friendship bracelets. I had the fancy little case, the bobbin winder, and cardboard bobbins. I organized them by color families, and remember just looking at them, thinking about how much I loved the colors! My love of friendship bracelets carried through high school, where I actually made a little money making bracelets and sometimes necklaces.

Pumpkin orange and midnight black—the predominant colors of Halloween combine the Autumn season with darkness and scary entities.

(source)

But how did these colors really come to dominate this most unusual holiday? The truth is, when it comes to the question of the origin of the Halloween colors, it can be hard to separate the opinions from the facts.

Unbleached beeswax candles (source | source)

The most common opinion about where the colors originated is steeped in the rich history of the Celtics and the Druids, with the burning of unbleached beeswax candles (orange) and ceremonial caskets draped in a black cloth.

Feng Shui candles are said to help create peace in the center of your house (source)

Now, let’s step into the world of Feng Shui, where a balance of energy reigns supreme. Believers of Feng Shui feel that the colors of orange and black were chosen because they are on opposite sides of the energy spectrum: orange is warm, happy, lively, and brings to mind the bounty of the fall harvest, while black represents mystery, void, power and protection (source).

(leaves source)

The most obvious answer to this question is that the classic color of Autumn is orange, while black can be equated with the approaching darkness of winter.

spider glasses | felted toys | napkins | Bunting 

And, if you want to get really extreme, some people claim that black and orange were the only colors left after Christmas took red and green, and Easter took all of the pastels.

Of course, Halloween colors are not just limited to orange and black, you will also see a lot of blood red, eerie green, ghostly white and deep purples. So, where do these colors come into play? Here is a plausible explanation.

Celtic wheel of the year (source)

Going back to the Celtic festival of Samhain in 700 B.C., it signified the end of the harvest and the approaching of winter, or the end of one year and the start of another. The Celts believed that ancestral spirits joined them on this day when the past and the present are about to cross paths, which is why it was also considered a “day of the dead.”(source)

goblin | bat necklace | brooch | Boo

All of the Halloween colors seem to implicate some kind of connection to death and dying. Red is a classic implication of blood, fire and demons, while green represents goblins, monsters, and zombies. Purple draws in a bit of the supernatural and mysticism, while white reflects ghosts, mummies and a full moon.

Stepping away from color for a moment, Halloween is also dominated by an abundance of Jack-o-lanterns and children out trick-or-treating. These traditions also have an interesting origin.

Stingy Jack (source)

Jack-o-lanterns trace back to the Irish myth of Stingy Jack who died and, finding himself rejected by both heaven and hell, was forced to roam the darkness seeking a resting place for his soul. Legend has it that he hollowed out a turnip and used it to carry a coal to light his way. This said, the first Jack-o-lanterns were carved in turnips, and only changed to pumpkins when the tradition was brought to America.

jack-o-lanterns (source)

Trick-or-treating came about during the Great Irish Potato Famine. On Halloween, peasants would beg for food from the wealthy. They played practical jokes on those that refused to give them something. So, to avoid being tricked, the wealthy gave out cookies, candies, and fruit. It is easy to see how this turned into modern-day trick-or-treating. (source)

bracelet | plastic mustaches / lips | zombie clips | toy

No matter what history tells us, the Halloween color palette we see today is warm, bright, fun, and sometimes a little spooky. Each color has a place in the holiday and can find a place in your life as well, whether you are wearing it, eating it, decorating with it, or simply reading about it. So, have a happy, safe and colorful Halloween!

header credit: purple bats

Halloween Colors

With the advent of the internet the accessibility of information has never been more readily available than it is right now. All the answers are mere clicks away. But rather than stare at endless streams of data, creative minds have taken it upon themselves to reinvigorate the way information is displayed by transforming it into visual art.

Today's infographic may very well put the pie chart to shame but this is by no means a modern marvel. The infographic has existed for as long as humans have sought to express themselves. With the rapid pace at which technology is advancing there has also been an artistic movement brewing within digital seams. We are building a bridge between an inherent need to be imaginative and seek creativity all while living in an age dominated by computers.

Here I give you a medley of infographics with perhaps an overstated pop of color because, as you know, we can all appreciate that here.

When you come home with empty pockets you know you had a great vacation and while the days ahead may have you regretting the whole thing ever happened the folks over at Bundle created the infographic: "America's Most Expensive Towns" so that in the future you will be armed with the information necessary to choose wisely!

Halloween is approaching! What patterns, palettes and colors are you favoring as we get closer?

We challenge all you COLOURlovin goblins and ghouls to create!

Ray, from The Vector Lab has made all COLOURlovers some Spooky SVGs to play with! You can download them for FREE until November 1st. SVGs can be used with Seamless Studio.

DOWNLOAD SPOOKY SVGs

Use code: HALLOWEEN

SVG vector set by The Vector Lab

 *You have to be logged in to The Vector Lab to be able to download the SVG files. 

Check out these other great Halloween Patterns by COLOURlovers!

Header Credit:

The entire COLOURlovers Team spent the better half of last week at Print's COLOR CONFERENCE in NYC. This was the first year of the event and I can definitely say we look forward to many more!

Aaron & Darius (aka Bubs) | "Creative Differences" 

As the event organizer, Print had the tough job of narrowing down what topics would be covered to rein in color at its finest. Topics ranged from color trending to a variety of looks at color in product design to how color affects our lives on personal levels, business and even non-profit. Between some great speakers, fun activities and CMYK Cocktails, I'd say we all had a wonderful time discovering color in ways we hadn't thought of before. It was truly intriguing to meet and talk to so many people interested in color and who work with it in a variety of fields. From those who deal with it broadly between science and art, every attendee brought a unique addition to the conference.

If you'd like a full rundown on the happenings, see blogpost, Viva Color at Print's First Color Conference  - great images of the CMYK Cocktails, the speakers panel and many fun candid shots.

Andy Gordon of 48HourPrint.com using Jamie Aylwin's palette | "Planking" | @48hourprint

In two previous posts—one for the Market Bag and the other for the iPad Sleeve—I shared with you some techniques I love to use for painting layers on canvas and then using the canvas to sew projects with. Well this time, I wanted to kick it up one notch by adding some hand stitching to my painted fabric. I chose the Amazing Artist’s Apron from the book, Sharing Stitches by Chrissie Grace. Liz Lamoreux—one of 15 contributing artists in Chrissie’s book—designed this project.

I was already of fan of Liz’s aprons, so I was excited that she shared how to make one in this book! The yummy palette I was inspired to draw from for my apron—How To—comes from lover Phoenixfire. So, with my palette in mind, I headed to Michael’s for paint and embroidery floss and found it easy to find all of the colors in both instances. Having the ColorSchemer app on my phone made this super handy, as I could just pull up the palette and have it in my hand as I visually scanned the products.

I started by painting plain pieces of light-weight cotton (I only used a small amount of duck canvas this time) with the five basic colors, then had fun layering them with spatters, drips and, of course, lots of stencils. After my fabrics were dry, I cut all the pieces I would need, according to the directions in the book. The focal point of this apron is the pocket, which is a mini quilt of sorts, made up of strips and squares of the various painted fabrics. The pocket is lined and divided into four sections—making it like four different pockets—but before I sewed the patchwork pocket to its lining, I went to town having fun with hand-stitched doodles (or embroidery if you prefer).