I spend a large percentage of each day creating Newspaper and Magazine Advertisements through the design firm I work for. I’d say a good 70% of each day is focused primarily on that.

If you’re familiar with doing these types of ads, you’ll know that you get some of the weirdest dimensions to work with; forget the difference between picas and pixel, or inches vs. points: I’m talking when the work order slides onto my desk with a 3-column inch by 4.997 inch height…

Okay, so you get the specs and you’re looking at something like: 4.265″ wide x 4.997″ high (or whatever). The thing about Illustrator is that when you create a new document, it only goes two decimal places out and that’s just not okay to lob off your client’s ad-space (even if it is virtually nothing).

I’m writing this article to explain the best practice method I’ve come up with over the years; hopefully it will help you streamline your workflow by removing the struggle you might face if you happen to set up your document wrong in the beginning.

I’m writing this for Illustrator CS3, but CS4 works the same. Other versions of Illustrator have these option but they may be placed a little different.
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This week I’ve got some new ideas for you.

The first I call the Orange Tree; based on the color, it’s a different style of abstract.

And for some of you vintage/retro fans, I’ve got Vintage Stars for your desktops!

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I, like some of you, recently upgraded to the Adobe CS4 family.  The new interface is very nice; I especially like the tabbing between open windows function.

There are some frustrating differences between CS3 (and older) and the new CS4 version.

I wanted to go over the two differences that caused me the most headaches; I’m hoping this article will help some of you get past a couple obstacles that are not so obvious to figure out otherwise.

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I have another installment of wallpapers for download this week.  This time I have them in more screen resolution choices.  I hope you like/find useful.  Please comment on these no matter how you feel; I also love suggestions so I might just make one that’s requested…

Downloads (in ZIP format this time) after the jump ->

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Hi Folks,
I have for you today an Illustrator (CS, CS2, and CS3) template for a postage stamp.
These are great for designing fun, printable portraits, or being used for interesting frames for artwork.  The images here are for web-size, however the stamp file is scalable to any size (even for posters, or lol a billboard!).
I have these available in EPS format, after the jump.

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I thought it would be fun to create some wallpapers each week for Freebies here.  So the inaugural Freebie Wallpaper this week will be a couple abstract dark choices I’ve cooked up just this afternoon.

I made two of these in 1440 x 900 resolution – sorry it’s what I run so was being a little self-centered when I started these; the next ones I plan to have a good choice between sizes (1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 1440 x 900).  I do have the second one available in 1280 x 1024 this week – and I promise to make the next ones in more standard formats.

Click the thumbnails for the full-res version:

Abstract Dark 01 | 1440 x 900

Abstract Dark 02 | 1440 x 900

Abstract Dark 02 | 1280 x 1024