In music industry, album covers are not only the envelopes of the sound, they represent the uniqueness of the product to be sold and, for collectors and fans, are a pure piece of art equal to the music they are going to buy. This is the reason why both fans and music producers pay a lot of attention to the outlook of the albums since that represents what is the actual quality of the production.

One of the most impressive album covers that have actually made me buy an album of a genre that I am not particularly attracted to - The OC Soundtrack Album made such an impression on me that as soon as I saw it in the music store, I knew this would be a perfect piece to download to my Smartphones music library and add to my collection (which was mainly trance music, but I had no such cover).

The cover is made by a number of pieces of paper with drawing on them. Each cartoon represents a hero character that resembles the main characters of the OC TV production - it is like the artist is displaying comic book characters rather than TV starts. The whole cover looks like a just-drawn cartoon book, and the small pack of drawing papers and pencils lying around the cartoons made the cover look like the working area of a gifted artists.

You have no guess what would be the music like when you first see that piece of art - it lacks the hard images of metal albums, the mixture of rainbow colours for house, the discoball for trance or the image of the artists that is typical for pop music. It is just like the sketches of a comic book - this make you even more curious to get the product and add it to your unique collection.

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Art commissions are one way of getting a guaranteed income for your art creations. However it is important to not get too exited when you land a commission, it may very well turn out to be the worst commission ever.

The best way to avoid a commission disaster is to follow some basic guidelines. One of the main things to look out for is to know who will approve the finished product. Will it be the person that just agreed your commission or will it be some kind of committee? This is not a time to just see the pound signs and power through with all your might expending energy and cash on materials, overheads and time.

If there is more than one person who will approve the finished art project this can be a sign you may want to turn down the commission. After all you want to be creating an artwork for pay, not to be out of pocket. If there are more than one or two people that will approve the release of the payment after they are satisfied the commission meets their requirements, it may be problematic as art is an intrinsically personal thing.

As they say you can’t please everyone all of the time. Here also, what one person might see as being representative of the commission guidelines another may not. Therefore it is essential that all parties have a clear picture of what the art commission should entail. It is advisable to get this in writing as well as at least thirty percent of the commission up front as a non-refundable deposit on materials.

A solicitor or independent party (such as financial advisors) should be called in to look over the contract. Ensure you are able to pay for one that can review the contract sufficiently to make sure as reasonably as possible that you won’t be left out of pocket.

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The bathroom in question belonged to a good friend of mine and had recently been re-done. I was expecting the usual nice new things, maybe photos of the family skiing in italy, that sort of thing. What I was not expecting was a full on homage to the legendary film The Creature From The Black Lagoon. I had no idea my friend was such a fan of this excellent (if ageing) cult movie.

Mark’s bathroom was indeed a masterpiece. Four posters adorned the walls – original posters in mint condition, framed to protect them from moisture and heat. Each poster is a work of art and features the creature in all his/its (?) terrifying glory as he fights the divers to keep a hold of his victim. Looking closely at the posters, its clear that more time was spent painting the creature than actually making the creature itself. But this doesn’t matter. There is a magic quality about these posters, and about the rubber suit that scared so many, as with many films from this forgotten era, that can not be matched by any modern photoshop work.

It’s saddening that there are, in 2010, only three or four proper full-time movie poster artists left in the world at the most; sadder still is the fact that virtually all posters today are put together in a marketing department in just a few days, from idea conception to completion.

But who knows? Perhaps this dying art will make a comeback? I’m sure there are many people out there who remember the creature who would like to think so to.

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DVD covers are not gone entirely even though today you can purchase music online and the same goes for movies. There are still lots of great album covers and movie posters out there you just ahve to search a bit to find them.

With itunes and photoshop technology taking over it seems those amazining paper introductions to our music and movies are a lost art. However have no fear of losing that nice paper CD cover, you can now make your own Bespoke Packaging!

One website details how the designer listened to the music of the album and then drew up a picture of how the music made him feel. There are illustrations and examples and apparently its a very easy process. The end product shows a multitude of different CD covers a in a variety of colours and type effects.

The way the letters are shaped and the colours used do seems to denote what type of music the CD consists of. Jagged letters in shades of red seem to suggest rock music whilst soft shaped rounded type in shades of blue seems to suggest more mellow relaxing style sounds. So for all you art buffs who would actually like to try your hand at making a cd cover you should check out the web page here.

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The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition one of London’s longest ever running art shows, now in its 242^nd year. The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition is the largest art show in the world, with over 10,000 pieces of art submitted every year, with some available for sale. Art lovers and budding artists worldwide come together to this truly magnificent exhibition. The exhibition will take place at the Royal Academy of Arts, the oldest art institution in Great Britain, located in the heart of the West End of London. The exhibition will feature work by many academicians and new work from artists like Tracy Emin, Antoni Tapies, Michael Craig-Martin, Ed Ruscha and Gillian Ayres.

This year’s theme of the exhibition is ‘Raw’ and Royal Academicians Stephen Chambers and David Chipperfield, will be choosing works which co-ordinate with the theme.

The event is not just for artists either. Work of film makers, photographers, architects, painters and sculptors, anyone interested in any of these professions may find it useful to visit the exhibition for inspiration. Not to mention it has also been noted as a must see event from people working in theatre, media, design, marketing, even CD Packaging and design!

The Summer Exhibition also pays tribute to the artists who have passed on this year, artists like John Craxton, Barry Flanagan and Flava Irwin will be remembered and some of their works will be displayed.

The exhibition runs from the 14^th June to the 22^nd August 2010 with various opening times. Ticket prices are free for children under 7, children aged 8-11 cost £4, for teenagers aged 12-18 it costs £5. For adults it starts from £9.50, seniors start from £8.50 and concessionary prices vary from £5.50-£8.50 a ticket. Included in the price is a List of Works, worth £3.50. Also remember you are purchasing a ticket to the largest art exhibition in the world, so it is an event not to be missed, so book now to avoid disappointment!

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For professional, cheap web design, go to "Open Source Web Design". On Open Source Web Design (OSWD), you can take your pick from over 2000 different web designs, free to download and use, so you don’t have to worry about designing a new website from scratch if you don’t want the hassle of doing so, if you’ve got an eye for design or out of the 2080 different designs you can’t find the one you like, OSWD are open to suggestions, so you could get the perfect website quickly and cheaply! They also have a range of premium designs, and they only cost money to fund OSWD.

If you urgently need some free space, or aren’t prepared to pay for it, webs.com gives you websites for free and are even ready made. Choose from over 300 templates, customize them, add your personal features like logos, add blogs, forums, photo galleries, you could even turn your website into a fully-fledged business with the help of Google Checkout and PayPal. Webs.com boasts of many features, and all for free. With a free webs.com account you get up to 40mb of web storage, and up to 30 minutes of video storage. They also have great premium services, for as little as $4 a month, you get 400mb of online storage, 150 minutes of video storage, and even a $50 Google advertising voucher, so you can even get some advertising from Google to drive some traffic to your new site.

Creating a website is easy, you don’t have to be an IT Consultant to have your own web presence, webs.com and "Open Source Web Design"make it easier to create your own website with no hassle.

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The Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall has housed many of the UK’s most widely-publicised art installations, including the giant playground of Carsten Holler’s Test Site and the still visible crack (Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth) along the hallway floor. In October, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will take over the space; how he chooses to use it will offer the western world an intriguing glimpse into modern Chinese art and culture.

Amid the clamour for a new installation, the current Turbine Hall exhibition, Miroslaw Balka’s How It Is, has taken a back seat. This certainly wasn’t the case a few months ago, as large crowds and injuries to confused elderly visitors brought back memories of those whose ankles fell victim to Salcedo’s installation. Critics argued that the gallery had gone too far in causing such a commotion quite literally over nothing. Well, not quite over nothing; Balka’s piece has empty space at it’s heart - but it’s encased in a giant metal box.

How It Is, inspired by the attritional Samuel Beckett novel of the same name, invites visitors to walk up a steel ramp (effectively the box’s fourth wall, as if it has been prised open) and into the structure itself. Standing at the top of the ramp, the black expanse in front of you appears endlessly high and unfathomably deep. The argument that Balka’s box is little more than a statement on art installation can be countered by the stirring sensation that confronts you as you step into the darkness.

Inside the box, it is incredible how quickly the darkness encircles the audience. Faces of those around you become no more than pale grey outlines, and for me at least, the confident walk in becomes a slow, unsteady stumble forward. Looking back at the entrance, it seems impossible that the entrance and the brightly-lit hall beyond is still only feet away. It is with a huge sense of relief that we find a felt-lined wall barring our path, only halfway along the length of the box.

Turning back towards the light, the experience becomes even more bewildering; looking back, the wall and the box’s other inhabitants are all clearly visible, even as we exit Balka’s ingenious box of tricks. How It Is may not make connect with the grandiose intentions set out in the installation’s explanatory notes - it is, after all, basically a storage unit with no lights in it. What it does so effectively is involve your senses in the whole process, making each person’s ability to adapt to the unsettling surroundings part of the artwork. Whatever your experience of stepping into the darkness, it’s clear Balka has created much more than a whole lot of nothing.

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The common mistake beginner artists make is trying to draw every little detail and not giving up until this is achieved, however awful the result. Now, not only is this tedious and extremely un-fun, but it’s also pretty much impossible. Even the most accomplished artist will tell you that he rarely draws every single line. No, instead he / she simplifies it slightly, picking the larger sections of dark and light so that the true shape and design of the piece can be exposed. Drawing, you see, is not always about what you can see: it’s also about the dark bits in the shadows. And they are a good place to start because they are definite. Definition is what you want when drawing anything, and for that reason, drawing in a darker room is actually more beneficial to the beginner than drawing in one flooded with light.

Start any drawing by identifying what is dark and what is light, then, once you’ve created a vague outline, lightly sketch these parts in. Once you’ve done that the whole piece should start to take shape. You’ll be able to see what goes where, and it’ll start to make more sense.

I have a favour to ask of all you, have just put down a call with my cousin and I asked what she would like for her birthday. So now I need to deduce where to get a linen kaftan , any assistance is welcome, I am not a woman and don’t understand any of this.

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The book is her story, it’s hers and Robert Mapplethorpe’s story, and it could be the story of any struggling artist out there. You don’t have to be a fan of Smith to get something out of this.

It charts her struggles, not only to become an artist, but also to become herself. Her family background is traditional, but this does not stop the not yet twenty one year old Patti from landing in New York City without any friends or money, and starting out on what would be her meteoric rise to fame.

At first she dabbles with drawing and writing while working in a book shop in order to pay the rent on hers and Robert’s flat. Then as time goes on and the experiments continue, Patti finds more of what she does want to do and less of what she doesn’t, all with a backdrop of her affair with Robert until he realises that he is gay. Their affair ends, but their connection never did.

The language Smith uses is, as you might expect, poetic and lyrical and worth reading for in itself. The book is a must-read for any aspiring artist and for any fan of Smith, or even just for fans of something that is incredibly well written. It is as inspirational as it is open and honest.

Before I go I need a bit of advice, I have been asked to design a stand for a friend of mine at the marketing convention this wednesday. Any tips on where I can get some good pvc banners at short notice?

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There are many designing and website management tools available today and Dreamweaver is one of those. Dreamweaver not only lets you design your webpage but also track all the links and ensure that you are uploading your files to the correct location on the server. To help Dreamweaver to perform its job efficiently, you have to tell about each site and the location of the site on the server. With every web hosting you are provided cpanel to manage your site files on the server but when working in Dreamweaver, you can manage your sites from the Files panel group.

Every site is a collection of files on the server and you can manage these files by opening the dropdown menu and clicking the menu item “Edit Sites or Manage Sites”. Clicking this menu item will open the dialog box where you can select the site that you want to manage. If you are creating a new site then click on “New” and you will be presented the screen where you can create new files to place on your site. You should perform some tasks listed below to create new site or manage an existing site.

First of all confirm that you are in the basic tab or advanced tab and if you are in the basic tab then go to the advanced tab. A website requires a name so think a name for your website and create a folder with the same name. It would be better if the name of folder is same as the domain name that you registered with your web hosting site. This is to avoid any confusion when uploading your site to your server to be seen worldwide.

Now provide the information to Dreamweaver required to make connection to your server. This information includes the username and password to login to your server. If you can connect then start working on your site and if you can’t connect to your site then either you may need to login using a secured connection or some information is missing or incorrect. In such cases, you should call your webhost.

If you want to look at some more really great online art stuff, check out this enigin PLC design blog. It is written by one of the employees and is really insightful, well worth a look!

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