25+ Free Resources for Graphic Designers

Attention to detail and depth of creativity – These two qualities are indicative of a great graphic designer. However, to it must be noted that designers cannot achieve either of these attributes without sufficient knowledge, resources and tools. In today’s post, I will highlight some of these highly efficient and informative graphic design resources that all designers regardless of experience will find extremely helpful.

So without further ado, here they are…

Tutorials:

1. Grunge Fusion – Learn how to create cool grunge textures by blending modes and filters
2. Realistic Golden Text – Mimic gold and create beautiful golden text in Pixelmator
3. Gooey Text – Create 3-D gooey looking text with minimal drawing
4. Surrealistic Hand-Drawn Illustration – Use fine liners and markers to create an illustration
5. Colorful Photo Manipulation – Use different layers, brushes and adjustments in Photoshop
6. 3D Character Logo – Give personality and sticker effect to a fun cartoon 3D character
7. Textured Site Layout – Create a textured site layout by layering multiple images
8. Watercolor Themed Website – How to use Art History brush to create a watercolor background
9. Western Text Tutorial – Easy to use western type Illustrator Effects
10. Special Finishing Touches – Master techniques of adding spot colors, varnishes and special touches to your layout.

Fonts:

1. Music Industry Fonts – 20 free font styles inspired by the music industry
2. Font Stack – Choose from a large collection of free web fonts with failsafe font stacks
3. Typewriter Fonts – 20 free typewriter fonts for a grunge look
4. Lobster Font – Free download available for this remarkably beautiful typeface script font
5. Fantasy Fonts – 30 free font downloads for an odd, eccentric and Gothic look

Generators:

1. Striped Web Background – Download and create striped background for websites
2. Background Dotter – Create a dotted background for your website
3. Background Maker – Variety of background in all kinds of patterns for your site
4. Tartan Maker – Web 2.0 web design Tartan Kit with Ajax generator

Web:

1. MadPattern – Free tool for rapidly prototyping patterns for Adobe Illustrator templates
2. ColorZilla – Offers page zoomer, color picker, advanced eyedropper, color palettes and more
3. Color Schemer – Professional color matching application for beginners and advance designers
4. Abstract Background – Quick tips tutorial about how to create an abstract effect in GIMP
5. Kuler – An internet application by Adobe allows you to try out, create and save various color schemes
6. Color Codes Chart – This color codes matching chart offers conversions of RGB and CMYK
7. 110+ Free RSS Icons – Select from a vast range of RSS icons to show off your RSS feed

The internet is a treasure trove of information for many disciplines, graphic design included. This is great news for graphic designers. Check out the above mentioned resources. They have a proven track record of delivering productive results and have successfully transformed good graphic designers into great ones.