Graphicxtras art and designs

Dog patterns for Photoshop, psp etc

2012-02-11T06:54:00.000-08:00

Latest release on graphicxtras is a set of 100 dog themed patterns for Photoshop, PSP etc - pack 89. The set is for license commercial use, all royalty-free, all the designs are by graphicxtras.com. The set includes the designs in a number of formats for use in many applications. Easy to use and load.

for more info
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/dog-patterns-photoshop.htm

Below shows some pictures of the dog patterns - the patterns can be used in countless ways though. The pack 75 and pack 89 designs are shown. The patterns can be re-scaled (as below), rotated, re-sized, colored, combined, blended, used as brush textures and much more. Also you can use them just as normal layers in Photoshop etc

Rabbit brushes for Photoshop and Elements

2012-02-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

Latest releases on graphicxtras: rabbit brushes (pack 161 and 162). Both sets include rabbit designs. Pack 161 includes many different sketch rabbit designs; pack 162 contains mainly realistic 3D render rabbit brushes. The brushes sets are in PNG and ABR. Pack 161 also includes the rabbits in eps vector format. License commercial use.

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/rabbit-brushes-photoshop.htm

More examples from the pack 161 and 162 set are below showing some of the possible uses of the rabbit brushes in Photoshop, Photoshop elements, PSP etc (Photoshop and Adobe are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated)

Cloud patterns, cat shapes etc for Photoshop etc

2012-02-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

Added a number of new pages on the graphicxtras site - doing a major cleanup of all the pages (yet again.. spent the last 10 years doing that and one day I might even get it right!)

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/cloud-patterns-photoshop.htm for cloud patterns for Photoshop

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/pspatterns_more7.htm for butterfly patterns for Photoshop etc

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/easter-egg-brushes-Photoshop.htm - easter egg brushes for Photoshop etc

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/hexagon-brushes-photoshop.htm - hexagon brushes for Photoshop etc

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/cat-shapes-photoshop.htm - cat shapes for Photoshop etc

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/diamond-brushes-photoshop.htm - diamond brushes for Photoshop etc

Probably missed a few, created about 6 or 7 new pages as well as cleaned a few up. They should take about 5 minutes... but they never do and I always end up updating all the pics to get all the colours consistent as well as adding some new 620 x 620 pics for the designs

Only another 50 or so pages to cleanup and reformat .. perhaps.

Some of the pages only have one product but I will be adding more to each section of the next few months as well as adding a number of new categories to the site. Perhaps even some Bryce or Hexagon based sets (just got those from the excellent Daz website .. well worth checking out)

Added some additional ones since writing the list above
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/greek-shapes-photoshop.htm - Greek shapes for Photoshop

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/goth-gothic-brushes-photoshop.htm - goth brushes for Photoshop etc

Illustrator patterns rosettes

2012-02-03T12:50:00.000-08:00

Latest release on graphicxtras is a set of 100 rosette patterns / swatches for Illustrator CS5 CS4 etc PC / MAC OS X. Pack 32. The set includes many wonderful colorful rosette patterns for use in paths, text, etc in Illustrator. Combine the designs, edit, re-color, export etc. License commercial use, royalty-free

For more information about the swatches set
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/rosette-swatches-patterns-Illustrator.htm

A selection of images below of the swatches in use against a light blue background, also includes a selection of images of other rosette swatches from earlier sets. Examples show the swatches on their own or applied to a circle or as a frame or to text and more

Illustrator swatches: heart patterns

2012-02-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

Latest update on graphicxtras is a set of 100 heart swatches for use in Illustrator CS5 CS4 etc. Vector designs, seamless tiles, all in AI format, license commercial use.

For more information about the heart pattern swatches (how to load, buy etc)
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/inswatches1_more1.htm

Examples of some of the swatches applied to various paths in Illustrator against a pink background - pack 30

Adobe and Illustrator are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated

There are also many other heart pattern sets on the same page. The hearts are all accessible via the Illustrator swatch palette.They are all swatch designs against a pink background

Illustrator arrow swatches

2012-02-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

Updated the arrow pattern swatches page for Illustrator CS5 CS4 CS3 CS2 CS1 - added a lot of new images and more information about the swatches. All the arrow swatches are seamless tile designs, vectors for any size of work. Load the arrow swatches via the swatches palette in Illustrator. Many different sets.

For more information etc
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/inswatches1_more2.htm

Some example pictures below - the arrow swatches applied against a light blue sky background

Just added pack 29 set - 100 new arrow pattern swatches for Illustrator CS5 CS4 etc - see some pictures below of the arrow designs applied in a number of ways such as a pattern brush, to a star etc - the arrows are applied against a lime green background

Adobe and Illustrator are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated

Photoshop gradients

2012-01-31T09:54:00.000-08:00

Updated the Photoshop gradients page on graphicxtras. The page includes 6 different volumes of gradients sets as well as a bundle set of all six. Photoshop gradients have been a useful tool in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements for years and years. The gradient sets include a whole range of wonderful color effects such as transparency, metallic, skylines, color complementary, lines, zooms and more.

Using blending modes, Photoshop gradients can be combined in millions of ways. The gradients can be changed, effects applied, used with selections, used in fills and fill layers, used as a source for brushes, patterns and a whole lot more. Gradients can be applied in linear, radial, diamond etc styles (use effects such as twirls etc to create even more gradient styles)

For more information as well as buying the 32,000 or so gradients from graphicxtras
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/psgrad.htm

Use gradients with the gradient tool, new fill layer gradient command, layer styles (gradient overlay, stroke etc) and fill. You can also use the gradients with most of the other features of Photoshop such as combining with selections, custom shapes, in patterns and more

Some pics below showing some of the gradients from the various sets

Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated

Photoshop brushes: flowers

2012-01-30T10:05:00.000-08:00

Updated the flower brushes section on graphicxtras (along with quite a few other sections) for Photoshop, Elements, PSP etc - three packs of brushes for Photoshop etc (contain ABR and PNG etc format files) - all license commercial use, royalty-free

For more information about the flower brushes
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/flower-brushes-photoshop.htm

Photoshop shapes - Flowers

2012-01-27T12:55:00.000-08:00

The latest release on graphicxtras is a new set of flower shapes for Photoshop and Elements. The shapes set contains 100 different flower designs, all vectors for any size of work.

As with all my sets, they are for commercial use, royalty-free etc - fairly inexpensive (I think!) The designs can be used to create 1000s of different items such as t-shirt designs, fashions, book covers, leaflets, garden center display etc The set includes the flower designs in CSH format and EPS format. Load the CSH via the file open command and the shapes palette load / replace - the eps can be loaded via the file open command and the file place command. The shapes are for Photoshop CS5 CS4 CS3 CS2 etc as well as elements. The eps files can be used in Indesign, Illustrator, Paint Shop Pro etc

Pack 173 - more info
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/flower-Photoshop-shapes.htm

Photoshop shapes: Clover and Easter Egg shapes

2012-01-25T09:08:00.000-08:00

Updated a couple of pages along with added a new page for the Clover / St patrick's day shapes on my site (will be adding a new set in a short while) for use in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. I am trying to go through a lot of my site and sort out all the subjects / keywords for each of the product groups - still got too many pages with a lot of unrelated items on a single page.

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/photoshop-clover-st-patrick-shapes.htm
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/photoshop-custom-shapes-menu-holidays.htm
(if you interested in purchasing some of the sets)

There are not many shapes packs on the pages but I intend to add a few more easter related items over the next week or so, such as perhaps Easter bunnies etc - Easter will probably zoom up way too fast and it will be too late for me

Photoshop wave shapes

2012-01-24T12:18:00.000-08:00

Latest release on graphicxtras.com is a set of wave shapes for Photoshop CS5 CS4 CS3 CS2 etc and also Elements PC and MAC OS X. Pack 172 includes 100 wave shapes in many different forms. The shapes are all vectors. The wave designs can be combined, modified, warped, re-colored etc. The set includes the designs in CSH (Photoshop custom shapes format - access via the shapes tool and shapes palette) and EPS format files.

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/photoshop-wave-shapes.htm

Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated

Some examples below from the pack 172 set

Photoshop contour shapes

2012-01-23T12:54:00.000-08:00

Created a new set of 100 contour shapes (mixed designs) for Photoshop CS5 CS4 CS3 CS2 CS1 etc and Photoshop Elements PC and MAC. Pack 171 Many different vector designs are included. The contour designs are all vectors for any size of work. The contours can be combined, modified, distorted, re-colored and more - see some examples below

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/photoshop-contour-shapes.htm

Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated

At the same time as adding the contours, I have added my first attempts at rich snippets (google, bing etc) - only one product per page with the rich snippets for products. Also added the rich snippets 'breadcrumbs'. Really have no idea if they will work. I have tried the rich snippets testing tool on google and some bits seem to be fine but the pics and some other pieces of info fail to appear, though the price is fine. Likewise, the breadcrumbs seem to work and then they don't.. so not sure about those at the moment, perhaps I have implemented them incorrectly

Photoshop heart shapes

2012-01-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Latest release 'pack 170' shapes for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. The set includes 100 sketch heart custom shapes designs in CSH and EPS format

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/photoshop-custom-shapes-menu-hearts-valentines.htm

Photoshop and Adobe are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Image sitemap for google etc

2012-01-18T15:02:00.000-08:00

My site is pretty heavy on images and when looking through google image search, I often wonder if most of the images are ever found. They are there, honest! Anyway, I have added an image sitemap to my robots.txt as there appears to be no other way to submit this. Google webmaster has a sitemap submit but there is an option for one sitemap (in my version of webmaster but then perhaps I am missing some obvious 'submit image sitemap' button)

Dreamweaver, sadly, offers no sitemap creation feature - something I would dearly love to see in some future version of the application. Same with the Dreamweaver reports which were last, it seems, updated in the dark ages. Please.. more reports.

To get around the lack of reports or ways of generating sitemaps or image sitemaps, I created my own little application to scan through all my html files on my site. I haven't touched Visual Basic for about 15 years so I am very very rusty. After a lot of trial and error and working out all the new ways of searching for files and searching text and all the wonderful new features of the rich text box, I generated my first attempt at the application. It generates all the required xml around all the images found in the various 200+ htm files on my site. Probably find out that there is an easy way to scan html tags in a file in Visual Basic, I used a clunky search based on strings such as "width" which is ok but not ideal if the html code is not in the expected order

As mentioned, added that file to the robots.txt and hopefully google will pick it up and use it. Some comments (most) seem to suggest that the image sitemap but google does mention a little about the usefulness of the image sitemap but in the 20 lines or so, there is little mention on the actual submission of the xml file.

Generating the sitemap has highlighted a few errors (a few being about a 1000 or so) with incorrect img src coding - how does the width etc end up at the end of the img src (not that it matters) sometimes and then other times in coding in Dreamweaver, it appears adjacent the src tag. Weird. Anyway, this played havoc with my coding so I will update those pages over the next day or so. Likewise, found quite a few errors and duplicates in the img alt lines, so that is another thing to update. Probably will use the alt as the caption in the image sitemap (as there is no 'real' caption and the alt is probably the closest for that). Hopefully the caption will then be used by google which often seems to randomly select text from close to the image and often ends up describing one of the other images.

With the VB coding, I can now create a few more reports that are more useful in cleaning up duff coding in my site. The find / replace in Dreamweaver is limited at best (there is no way to code a 'if this is so then replace but please don't replace if x = y and it is a Tuesday - sometimes I could really do with that kind of feature in Dreamweaver).

Classic case of a useful Dreamweaver report would be to find all class etc entries that are no longer used in a stylesheet. I am always finding old class="xyz" code with no related entry in the CSS file. Probably no big deal but it does add some overhead to the page. And also potentially generate errors if I use the CSS style for something else.

For anyone interested, here is the sitemap
http://www.graphicxtras.com/images_sitemap.xml

Certain it will be updated again and again over the next week or so, also will be adding more images (as always) to the graphicxtras site

Photoshop shapes / brushes - Hearts, Valentine, Love, Romance...

2012-01-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

Spent a lot of time over the last week or so updating many of the heart / romance / Valentine's day pages considering it is now not that far off (just spent the last few minutes reading one of my favourite romance comic blogs - definitely worth checking out for some wonderful interviews etc)

Not totally finished with the update of all the pages as I have still to update the swatches for Illustrator, custom shapes etc as well as update some of the font set pics and there are a few more possibles such as some new tubes.

Photoshop cat patterns

2012-01-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

Latest release is a set of cat patterns for use in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, PSP etc Set pack 84. The cat patterns are in Photoshop patterns PAT format, EPS vector shapes format, PNG format. Many different cat designs included in the set. License commercial use. All the patterns are by graphicxtras.com (me)

Patterns pack 84 cats

Face patterns for Photoshop CS5 CS4 CS3 CS2 etc and Elements and others

2012-01-09T12:59:00.000-08:00

Face Patterns for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, PSP etc

I often create a few sets of designs based on an earlier set, mainly as the sets always lend themselves to many different ways of working. The same for the face patterns set. The face patterns are for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, PSP and many others. The Photoshop side of things are in PAT format, the EPS vector designs are for all the other wonderful applications so you can use the designs in QuarkXpress, Indesign, PSP, etc You can also use the face vector patterns in Photoshop and Elements as vectors

The face patterns are all license commercial use .. hardly any limits on their use (the license can be found on the site), world-wide use, no time limits, royalty-free and all the designs are by graphicxtras.com (Andrew Buckle)

How to load the PAT faces file.. just load via the file open command or use the preset manager or my favourite, the patterns palette load / replace.

For more info about Patterns pack 83
Faces (more information) as well as to buy the set!

Below are some pics of the patterns in use. The examples show the face patterns applied as layers, applied with layer effects (you can apply layer effects in CS5 by using the face patterns as smart objects, all very easy to use and really flexible)

The pattern above is the cover for the patterns pack.. ok, as the set is a download - not strictly a real cover. Shows a quick pattern created using one of the face designs

Line pattern

Two patterns together

Multiple smaller pattern designs

Pattern design applied twice (two layers overlapping) applied on top of a colorful gradient from graphicxtras.com

Gray opacity 20% setting applied to the layer for the face pattern

Blurred pattern - using smart object and smart filter in Photoshop CS5

Gradient applied via layer effect to pattern design

Large size vector design from pattern in faces patterns pack

Moire pattern faces applied as a pattern overlay and satin effect and button

Text with pattern overlay of face pattern design in CS5


Pattern design exported and then modified and combined with a frame and then saved as new pattern in Photoshop

Faces pattern in pack 83 with filter effect applied in Photoshop

Multiple face patterns (scaling set via the layer effects settings)

Multiple patterns applied and combined with red custom shapes rectangle in Photoshop

Lighting effect applied to face pattern in Photoshop

Two layers but one with a blurring effect applied for unusual color shape applied to pattern.

Face brushes for Photoshop, PSP, Photoshop Elements etc - Pack 158

2012-01-08T06:50:00.000-08:00

Face brushes for Photoshop etc

Latest release on the graphicxtras site is a set of 100 face brushes (same face, female but posed in different ways) for use in Photoshop CS5 CS4 CS3 CS2 etc Photoshop Elements 10 9 8 7 etc and PSP, Photo-Paint, Xara and many other applications. The face brushes set includes the designs in Photoshop ABR format as well as EPS vector shapes format (for use with any size of design).

Use the brushes in countless ways in Photoshop etc, use with the Photoshop tools, use as layers and more. The face brushes (pack 158) is license commercial use, all royalty-free, all by graphicxtras.com.

The items can be purchased via the 'buy' button - the link goes to shareit.com / secure sales site

The examples below a small selection of the brushes applied in different ways in Photoshop (not all the brushes are shown or used). Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Brushes pack 158 - Faces

Below shows a selection of brush strokes 'faces' in Photoshop CS5 - such as adding the brush stroke to a gradient background or using the face brush stroke as a way of creating unique textures

The brushes can be applied in countless ways. The brush set has the designs in ABR format but for the ultimate flexibility, eps brushes are also included and they are vectors so the brushes can be recreated to any size. There is also an action file included that can add the eps files as brushes (300 x 300 or 3000 x 3000...)

The face brush was applied using black applied on top of a gradient design created using gradients from graphicxtras

Brushes pack 158 - faces brushes applied twice using black color

Face brushes applied multiple times across a grid - one of the face brushes changed from black to pink.

Black brush stroke applied on a red background in Photoshop

Multiple face brush strokes all applied using a low opacity of around 20%

Black brush stroke applied across a background of red

Multiple face brush strokes applied across an image - creating a texture of face designs.

Brush applied on top of a colorful gradient from graphicxtras.com - the face brush stroke is applied as a new layer and a shadow applied to the layer via the layer style dialog

Face Brush stroke applied and then the magic wand / selection tool is used in Photoshop to select a highlighted area of the face and that is filled with amber

Black brush stroke face design applied and followed by a blur and fade via the edit menu in Photoshop - bit of a fuzzy day

Face brush stroke applied in Photoshop - applied using red as the brush color

Brush stroke applied and the brush stroke is modified using the powerful Magic Bullet plugin tool to apply different color gradients and subtle noise effects to the image

Sketched face brush stroke applied in Photoshop - using the brush palette the second brush dab is applied and flipped

Colorful face brush dabs applied - the color of the brush strokes modified as the brush stroke is applied using the brush palette color dynamics section in Photoshop CS5

Similar to the color dynamics face brush stroke but this time the face brush stroke is a sketched design

Moire brush stroke face design applied with different colors in Photoshop

Brush stroke face design with the addition of some text - still no one answering the phone

Released new faces font (pack 178) for Indesign, QuarkXpress etc

2012-01-07T06:26:00.000-08:00

Just released a new font set 'faces' (pack 178) - 100 faces - same female but in different poses - for use in Photoshop CS5 CS4 etc, all the way back to the earliest versions of Photoshop for those using that, Illustrator, Indesign, QuarkXpress etc PC and mac. License commercial use. The designs are all vectors in true type font format TTF and EPS. Royalty-free use. All the designs by graphicxtras.com

Face font set pack 178

Thumbnail gallery of all the designs

Also, added a page to the site for all the other face font designs - separating the face and basic figure / silhouette sets

Added face shapes set for Photoshop and Elements and others (pack 169)

2012-01-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

Latest release is a set of 100 face shape designs (for commercial use in countless projects) for use in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements (CSH format file) and many others such as Illustrator, Indesign, PSP, Pages etc (EPS format) PC and MAC. All by graphicxtras.com. Many different renders and designs, all vector shapes for any size of work

Face shapes pack 169

Checkerboard custom shapes for Photoshop and elements etc (pack 168)

2012-01-05T03:39:00.000-08:00

Released a new set of custom shapes - pack 168 - '100 Check / checkerboard' designs for Photoshop CS5 CS4 CS3 CS2 etc and Elements 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 etc PC and MAC. The set includes the designs in CSH format and EPS vector shapes format (so you can use the designs also in Illustrator, PSP, Xara, Indesign etc) - license commercial use, royalty-free, all by graphicxtras

Added a new page for all the other checkerboard shapes as well

Checkerboard shapes for Photoshop, Photoshop elements, PSP etc

Thumbnail gallery of the checkerboard shapes

Checkerboard brushes for Photoshop (pack 157)

2012-01-04T06:01:00.000-08:00

Added a new section / tutorials as well as a new product 'pack 157' for use in Photoshop, Photoshop elements, Xara, and quite a few other graphic apps. The designs are all themed 'checker or checkerboard or checks'. The pack 157 includes the designs in eps and abr Photoshop brushes format. The eps designs can be used with any size of document / brush stroke

Checkerboard brushes

The abr brushes are accessible in Photoshop and elements via the preset manager found in the edit menu, as well as via the brushes palette right side menu load / replace brushes. The eps files can be used via the file open command or the file place command (so they can be used as a layer).

The set comes with documentation and gallery as well

All for license commercial use

To see all the brushes included in the set - thumbnail gallery of checkerboard brushes

Pages appearing in search engines

2012-01-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

Many of the pages on graphicxtras appear in various search engines (not going to mention names) and perhaps many of them could do a lot better in rankings / readability etc - I am always working on that and I doubt if I will ever get it totally right

One page has always baffled me (ok, there are a couple)
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/psgrad.htm &
http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/psbrush.htm

which feature in search engines but generally so badly for their keywords that it baffles .. even sites that have nothing to do with Photoshop gradients or Photoshop brushes such as discussions about how a cat meows, how to cook pasta or something will feature higher in the listings (I last looked and I think the pages were about 800th or so position). I have re-worked the page, adding more and more fresh content, more this and more that but it makes zilch difference. However many good products are added, the pages refuse to shift up (but generally down). Perhaps the location.. perhaps the files should have been on the top level as well as photoshop-brushes etc and not psbrush (I created them years ago when naming conventions were a little less friendly). Really don't want to delete the pages - I have done more than enough of that of late to trim the site down to a slimmer state.

Getting good high ranking sites to link to sites mainly selling brushes etc is tricky (I doubt if the BBC will cover that any time soon), I do seem to attract way too many sites that have duff links - I have quite a few with the weirdest collection of parameters known to man - and there is little I can do to change those (that seems to be something that is missed by the search engines as they always talk as if sites can actually contact these sites and get them to remove these links etc .. it is virtually impossible to contact these sites or at least to get any answer). Perhaps the search engines could add a feature that you could highlight links that you don't want to be added as an incoming link or at least highlight that it is one link and not 2 million links all the same.

Anyway, will continue and ponder those pages.. if I didn't think the gradients etc are the greatest (32,000 of them on the page) I probably wouldn't worry but I really care about them - perhaps too much.

Cross brushes for Photoshop, Elements etc added (pack 154)

2012-01-01T03:29:00.000-08:00

Latest addition to graphicxtras is a set of 100 cross brushes for Photoshop and Elements and PSP and others (pack 154). Also added a new page for the cross brushes with tutorials and more pics showing the cross brushes.

Cross brushes for Photoshop etc

Cross font set (Pack 177) for Pages, Word, Indesign and others

2011-12-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

Just added a new font set 'crosses' pack 177. 100 Cross designs in true type TTF font format and EPS vector shapes format. Many different cross designs, all for commercial use. The cross designs are all vectors for any size of work, accessed via the keyboard A B C D etc.

Installation of the font set depends on the OS, either right click the TTF on the PC and select install (or via the font viewer); and on the MAC, use the right click to open font book and install the cross designs via that.

The font designs are accessible by virtually all applications, there are a few exceptions such as some 3D apps.

Also added a new page for the cross fonts as I had the fonts dotted throughout some of the other font pages on the graphicxtras site. I am trying, slowly, to go through all the pages on the site and update them to be more tightly associated with the keywords (instead of 10 or so types of products) - so the cross page includes only cross fonts. Also added a lot of new tutorial information about the installation of the cross fonts etc

Cross font shapes sets

Custom shapes zigzag set (pack 165) for Photoshop

2011-12-29T04:21:00.000-08:00

Added a new set of zigzag shapes as well as added a new page for the zigzag designs (instead of in the lines shapes page) - the new set is for Photoshop and Photoshop elements (all versions up the latest) as well as many other applications as the set also includes the designs in EPS format as well as standard CSH shapes format. Many different types of zigzag shapes are included in the set, all for commercial use (all by graphicxtras). The shapes are easy to load and use in Photoshop via the preset manager command or the file open command.

The page also has a small selection of tutorials showing some of the uses for the shapes - they can be used in countless ways.

Zigzag shapes pack 165 for Photoshop and Elements

Sketch path tutorial added for Photoshop

2011-12-28T09:14:00.000-08:00

Just added a tutorial using the star paths (pack 7) custom shapes from graphicxtras showing how to create a sketched star design in Photoshop (sadly cannot be elements as elements has no wonderful path tools which is a big oversight but a workaround would be to get an application such as Illustrator etc and modify the designs on that before copying them back into Elements)

Star paths custom shapes

Zigzag brushes for Illustrator

2011-12-28T06:11:00.000-08:00

Latest release on graphicxtras is a set of Illustrator brushes 'Zigzags' - pack 41. The set includes 100 different brush strokes. The brushes are loaded via the brushes palette in Illustrator CS5 CS4 CS3 etc PC and MAC. The set includes many different artistic, scatter and pattern zigzag brushes in AI format as well as the designs in vector EPS format. The zigzag brushes can be applied in countless ways in Illustrator such as to paths, text, brush strokes and more - or just used as normal zigzag paths

Zigzag brushes

Zigzag brushes for Photoshop, Elements, PSP - Pack 153

2011-12-27T12:48:00.000-08:00

Added a new set of 100 Zigzag themed brushes for use in Photoshop, PSP etc (pack 153). Based on an earlier set of zigzag designs, the new set includes interesting contour / border designs to the zigzag mix. The set includes the designs in ABR format (as always grayscale) and EPS vector format for use in PSP, Photoshop Elements for brushes of any size - the set includes an action for Photoshop that runs through all the eps files and adds them to the brushes palette. The eps designs can also be used as just layers - they are super colorful contour zigzag designs for all kinds of work. You can combine them, use them as new brushes, use them as even a source for patterns etc. They are all for commercial use (as well as personal)

Pack 153 zigzag brushes

Also updated the zigzag brushes page and added some new tutorials. I am trying to do this with all the brushes, shapes etc pages but it is taking time - many have got new tutorials but many have got some of the older ones (I will get around to updating all the information - I am still finding places where I mention CS4 but not CS5.

Changed quite a few of the web pages today and added the scripts to the bottom of the pages (though as yet, not all as sometimes the code looks fairly complex and I like to only update a few items at a time). Hopefully will make the pages quicker and the tutorials will make the pages more interesting.

If there is anything you want to be added to the tutorials etc, please let me know

Now off to watch the new BBC adaption of 'Great Expectations' - hopefully a good version. Seems like the BBC has a lot of Dickens on over the next few months (as well as a lot of Jane Austen over the Xmas holiday)

Photoshop square brushes

2011-12-27T06:16:00.000-08:00

Just added a new set of brushes to the graphicxtras site - this time a set of brushes made up of different grayscale random colored squares. The set includes 100 of these designs. Use them in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, PaintShop Pro and many other applications. The set contains the usual Photoshop standard brushes ABR format and it also includes the square designs in EPS format (which means you can use the brushes to any size and also, if you have Illustrator, you can edit the source brush designs to create truly unique designs).

Square brushes - pack 152

Wonderful Christmas day

2011-12-25T14:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas day. Great TV, excellent company, decent turkey and a good book 'Sherlock Holmes for the holidays' (a great collection of short stories by a variety of authors). Hope it was good for you also.

Web site updates

Updated many more pages of the graphicxtras site as well - most of the pages now have h3 instead of P and a class for the highlights but I still have a lot more to do (h3 h2.. will get them all sorted eventually). Also all the pages now have the social stuff on the right side - please feel free to add some comments such as what products you would like to see or more information you would like added to the pages. Trying to add the keywords in the 'correct' order etc .. hmm, it is a very restrictive model but that is the way it is

2012 is not far off.. yipee.

Site update - speed issues ?

2011-12-23T12:57:00.000-08:00

Spent the last few days doing yet another (and I can't count how many updates I have done of the site - one day I will be happy with the layout and design of the graphicxtras site) http://www.graphicxtras.com

Anyway, I have added all the social / facebook etc side of things to the right side - so comments can be added about the site. One issue.. and it is hard to determine because when I run tests on the site and the pages they load pretty quick and I have tested them on other machines as well just to check that out and all seem decently fast - google even states that the pages are in the top 20% or something speed-wise.. ) but I'm testing the site in the UK. I just wonder, how fast the site is for people visiting from the US? Does all the analytics etc slow things down ? Obviously the key thing is a good, fast and informative page (and for me.. someone to buy the products, always helps)

Still not helped by endless error messages relating to searches for stuff that hasn't been on the site for about 5 years or more - my search stats are full of image errors, page errors for things that I no longer sell and in some cases, pages that never actually existed beyond the imagination of some other site. Sadly the web seems to be clogged with that sort of stuff. Noticed the stats on the 401, 404, 500 etc errors and that seems to be growing day by day on the web - surely the search engines need to work on some way to truly determine what is the real site and not an out of date one - because without that more and more sites like mine will just increasingly get overloaded with errors that are not real errors - just out of date or inaccurate information and that will not help anyone.

Site stickiness is still an issue as it seems that hardly anyone sticks around - as soon as they get to the site they seem to vanish - that is baffling and hard to really get to grips with and how to improve this. I have been re-writing the site over and over adding more and more (hopefully) good products with a lot of extras, bonus material etc as well as a lot of tutorials and now a lot more video tutorials (and manuals) etc - does that make any difference. Certainly so far, not in the slightest. If I hadn't touched the site all year - the same stats in March etc (after the Panda changes) are now appearing in December - so that seems to suggest a lot of effort has resulted in just the same.

Perhaps things will improve in the new year. At the moment I have reduced all the prices but with all the costs etc - I will be putting them all back up again after the Xmas period.

Not sure what I will be adding to the site next year - still want to work on some comics and other things more than just add more and more designs on the site but if things perk up (stat wise etc) then perhaps I might start adding a lot more new products to the site and even more tutorials.

At the end of the day, I really enjoy creating and creating all these designs and that has been something for me over the last 10 years or so

Christmas tree shapes pack (pack 73) for Pages, Indesign, Photoshop, PSP released

2011-12-18T03:56:00.001-08:00

Just released a new set of colorful Christmas tree shapes (frosty, snow, red and green and more) - 100 vector shapes designs for Photoshop, Pages, Indesign, Illustrator, Xara and 100s of other applications released

Christmas tree shapes

Brushes pack 151 'Borders' for Photoshop, PSP etc

2011-12-16T08:29:00.000-08:00

Released pack 151 'Borders' brushes for Photoshop, PSP and others PC and MAC OS X - the set includes 100 border designs in ABR and EPS vector format.

Borders - brushes pack 151 (more information)

Star brushes pack 150 - 100 Intense stars for Photoshop, psp etc

2011-12-14T09:33:00.001-08:00

Latest release on the graphicxtras site being a set of 100 Intense star themed brushes, star brushes with borders, basic star brushes and more - all the stars are for Photoshop and Photoshop elements (ABR format), the set also includes the same designs in EPS vector format for use in Photoshop, PSP, Indesign, Illustrator and many other graphic applications PC and MAC. Pack 150

Star brushes

Swirl / floral shapes - Pack 66 for Indesign, Photoshop etc

2011-12-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

100 Swirl / floral vector shapes for Photoshop, Indesign, PSP, Illustrator and others - colorful designs in PDF and EPS format -Pack 66 swirl shapes pack

Owl custom shapes for Photoshop and elements released - Pack 162

2011-12-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Released new 100 Owl shapes set 'pack 162' for Photoshop and Elements - Owl shapes

Custom shapes pack 160 Floral swirl designs for Photoshop and elements

2011-12-11T12:23:00.001-08:00

Added a new shapes pack 160 as well as a selection of tutorials (using some of the designs in the set) - 140 embellish / floral / swirl shapes for Photoshop and Photoshop elements. Combine the vector shape designs in countless ways

http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/photoshop-custom-shapes-menu-embellish-flourish.htm

Line font set pack 176 for Photoshop, Indesign, Pages etc

2011-12-09T08:40:00.001-08:00

Latest set released on graphicxtras 'lines' - font pack 176. Set includes 100 line designs in true type font and eps vector format. Use the designs in Photoshop, 3D, DTP, Illustrator, PaintShop Pro and others http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/line-fonts-eps-shapes.htm

Font pack 175 W letter shapes for Photoshop, Word, etc released

2011-12-07T07:38:00.001-08:00

Latest release on graphicxtras.com is a set of 100 W+ themed letter shapes http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/type-fonts-eps-shapes.htm. Font set includes true type font and eps vector shapes for use in Photoshop, Indesign, Word, Xara and many other applications

Xmas snow patterns for Photoshop, psp etc (pack 79)

2011-12-03T08:51:00.001-08:00

The latest release on graphicxtras is a set of 100 Xmas snow patterns for use in Photoshop, psp, elements, Illustrator and many other applications. The set includes the designs in PAT Photoshop patterns format as well as EPS vector format for use with any size of document http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/pspatterns_more3.htm

Knol for custom shapes for Photoshop

2011-11-29T06:44:00.001-08:00

Added a google knol for the use of custom shapes in Photoshop - stunning vector shapes for all kinds of work

http://knol.google.com/k/andrew-buckle/custom-shapes-for-adobe-r-photoshop-r/2cet911jexg89/1

Flower brushes (pack 147) released for Photoshop

2011-11-29T06:35:00.001-08:00

Just released a new set of brushes for Photoshop - flower brushes. This is pack 147 and contains 100 brushes in ABR format and also includes the same designs in eps vector format for any size of brush strokes. Brushes for Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, Elements and more

Flower brushes

Added new circle custom shapes for Photoshop set

2011-11-17T08:42:00.001-08:00

Latest set of CSH wonderful shapes for commercial use... 100 circle shapes for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Vector designs for any size of work. Wonderful as a source for patterns, brushes and much more - a powerful tool set of designs for all kinds of projects. http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/photoshop-custom-shapes-menu-circular.htm All the shapes are by graphicxtras.com (Andrew Buckle), all are royalty-free. The custom shapes are loaded into Photoshop via the file > open command, use via the shapes tool. There are also many free samplers on the site as well as videos giving you ideas on how to use the shapes and also on how to install them. Add to your Photoshop... The shapes work for all versions since Photoshop 6 ... they work fine in CS5 as well!

Minerba font released - 100 New character shapes

2011-11-14T08:42:00.001-08:00

Latest release on graphicxtras is a new font set 'Minerba' based on PD font shapes set (more information about that on the graphicxtras site). The font is for use in countless applications such as PaintShop Pro X4 and others. The set includes the designs as TTF true type and also in EPS format. The set includes antique shapes, distress shapes, basic shapes, weird and wonderful shapes, flourish shapes, rough shapes, faded shapes and more. There is also a free sampler set on the page

Minerba font shapes (Pack 170)

Added more free samplers / demos to graphicxtras

2011-11-13T04:30:00.001-08:00

Added a number of new free samplers / demo files (mainly all in zip format) dotted throughout the graphicxtras site. The demos are for the fonts, PDF files, CSH files, PNG pattern files and more

There are also many tutorials on the graphicxtras pages to explain how to install the fonts, shapes, brushes etc - as well as many wonderful inexpensive products to buy, all by graphicxtras.com

Graphicxtras

Christmas and heart shapes fonts + tutorials

2011-11-13T04:26:00.001-08:00

Updated the heart font shapes and Christmas font shapes pages to add more tutorials and information about the use of the Christmas bauble etc shapes and also the heart wedding shapes in the applications: Fireworks, WordPad, Symphony.

Christmas font shapes

Heart wedding shapes fonts

P themed letter font set released (pack 169) for Photoshop, Word etc

2011-11-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

Just released a P themed font set which includes P themed frame designs, P divider designs, P shadow shapes and many more - true type font and eps format files. 100+ designs. Set also included documentation and gallery and more.

P Themed font set for Photoshop, PSP, Word etc

Also a freebie sampler set on the page

Christmas snow symbols pack (97) released

2011-11-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

Just added a new symbols pack - Christmas snow symbols shapes, 100 of them - all unique colorful designs. There is also a few sampler on the page. Pack 97. 100 Snow shapes are included in the set. The symbols are easy to add to Illustrator, access via the symbol palette

Snow symbols pack

Updated the face / figure / silhouette people font set page

2011-11-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

Updated the face / figure / people / silhouette font set page - now all the products have a free sampler TTF file for downloading. The free sets are all in standard TTF format and they contain a number of variants of a single design from the pack such as sketched designs, rough designs, cutouts and more.

People font sets

All the people font sets include many different designs such as female faces, heads, male figures, silhouettes etc, all the designs are vectors for any size of work. The fonts work in ALL applications (amazes me how many times I get asked about that and yes, the fonts are all vectors and can be used any size - again, one of the main questions)

Christmas snow shapes pack added (pack 156) for Photoshop and Elements

2011-10-31T08:47:00.000-07:00

Latest release on the site - 100 Christmas snow shapes for Photoshop and Elements. Added a free sampler set (one shape) on the web page

Christmas snow shapes

Added new dot brushes pack for Illustrator (pack 40)

2011-10-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Latest set added to the site: dot brushes for Illustrator including weird dot brushes, abstract dot brushes, linear dot brushes, circular dot brushes, noise brushes and more - for CS5 cS4 CS3 etc. The set includes the designs in AI format (single file) accessible via the Illustrator brushes palette. The set also includes the designs in eps format and can be used in Photoshop, Indesign, etc - Brushes pack 40

Dot brushes for Illustrator

Also added a couple of free sampler brushes packs to the page

Updated Halloween custom shapes for Photoshop page

2011-10-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Updated the Halloween (and scary) custom shapes page which includes two sets of custom shapes for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. The sets include many different vector shape designs in CSH format. Access the CSH files via the file open command in Photoshop or via the custom shapes palette. Many different shapes are included in the set.

The page includes new pics along with a few free sampler sets of the Halloween shapes

Halloween shapes

Updated People and face graphic shapes page for Photoshop etc

2011-10-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Updated the people and face (silhouette, figure, crowds etc) graphic shapes page - the page contains three sets of graphics packs with many different mixed designs of female face shapes, male face shapes, figures, silhouette shapes and more. The shapes are all vector designs for use with any size of document. They are all stored in standard Adobe Acrobat format - they can be used in Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, Paint Shop Pro, Xara and many others (generally they are opened via the file open command or the file place or import command)

Also added a few free sampler sets on the page in PDF format (they include one shape and some variant shapes)

People and face shapes

Heart custom shapes for Photoshop and elements updated

2011-10-21T05:26:00.000-07:00

Updated the hearts / romance / wedding custom shapes page to include a new shapes pack (pack 154) and also a selection of freebie heart shapes packs.

Heart shapes packs

New font arrow shapes set - pack 166 added

2011-10-19T09:55:00.001-07:00

Just added a new arrow themed font set - 100+ arrow shapes for use in Photoshop, PSP etc - font pack 166. Also added a free sampler set with a number of arrow shapes designs (commercial use)

arrow font set - pack 166

also I have added an issuu document showing many of the font designs in the set

Arrow font shapes -- free samplers

2011-10-19T03:24:00.000-07:00

Updated the arrow font page and included additional information, etc along with updated pics and now each of the arrow sets have a free arrow font sampler. To install / access the free arrow designs, right click the arrow TTF font and download the file set - add to mac via fontbook application (found in the applications folder) and by right clicking the true type TTF font on the PC and using the windows font viewer application.

The free sets include two or more designs and then many variants of those designs spread throughout the A B C D E etc characters (not all the character slots are filled in the samplers). The full versions, and samplers, are for commercial use

arrow fonts - they can be used in Photoshop, Indesign, Word, Expression, PSP and countless other applications

2011-10-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just added 100+ new Christmas bauble shapes - font pack 165 - the set includes the designs in TTF and EPS format files. Easy to use etc, many different designs, all for commercial use.

Christmas baubles

There is also a free sampler set - it contains a number of variants of the characters / shapes filling A B C D etc fields (not all the fields) on the page - added a few sampler sets for the other Christmas related sets as well

Spiral custom shapes and fonts

2011-10-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Updated the spiral custom shapes page and the spiral fonts page on the graphicxtras.com site with two new sets. The sets contain 150 spiral vector shapes 'spiral' themed for use in Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro etc.

Many different spiral shapes are included in the set: mottled, warped, rippled, basic, shadow, 3D and more. The shapes are license: commercial use

spiral custom shapes for Photoshop
spiral fonts

You can also find a free sampler of the shapes and the fonts on their respective pages, as well as thumbnail galleries and lots of examples.

Star shapes font set for Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator etc (pack 163)

2011-10-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

The latest release on graphicxtras.com is a set of 100+ Funny star shapes (well, funny-ish, more unusual than funny) for use in Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, PSP, Painter, Pattern Studio etc. The set is for commercial use (as well as personal). All the star shapes are vectors for any size of work.

Star shapes font set

The star set includes the designs in TTF font format and EPS format.

50 Cat patterns pack (pack 74) for Photoshop, psp

2011-10-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

Latest release on graphicxtras.com is a set of 50 cat patterns (sketched, painted etc) for Photoshop, psp etc. There is a free sampler on the page as well.

cat patterns set for Photoshop, psp etc

Swirl galaxy brush strokes for Photoshop etc - pack 144

2011-09-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

Latest release on graphicxtras.com is a set of 50 swirl galaxy brushes for Photoshop, PSP etc
Swirl galaxy brushes pack 144

Arrow patterns for Photoshop, PSP etc (pack 71)

2011-09-30T00:37:00.000-07:00

50 Arrow patterns - painted, sketched etc for Photoshop, psp etc released - license: commercial use. There is also a free pattern set on the pack 71 section

pack 71 patterns - arrows

Abstract patterns pack 70 for Photoshop, psp etc

2011-09-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

Latest release - 50 abstract patterns for Photoshop, Elements, PSP etc - pack 70

Ring patterns for Photoshop - Pack 69

2011-09-28T08:42:00.000-07:00

Was not intending on working on any more patterns today but found some new colorful features within 'Pattern Studio' for creating interesting colorful gradients - combined with the the NPR settings. Anyway - a new set of 50 patterns 'rings' (pack 69) for Photoshop, PSP etc
Ring / circle patterns

Frames patterns pack 68 released for Photoshop, PSP etc

2011-09-28T03:36:00.000-07:00

The latest release on graphicxtras is a patterns pack 68 'frames' - sketched / painted frames for Photoshop, PSP etc - commercial use

frames patterns (pack 68)

Letters pattern pack 66 for Photoshop, PSP etc

2011-09-27T05:03:00.000-07:00

Latest addition to the graphicxtras site is a set of letter patterns - painted and sketched etc patterns for Photoshop, PSP etc. The set is for commercial use, royalty-free. Contains the patterns in PNG and PAT format (photoshop patterns format)

Patterns pack 66 - letters

X letter pattern set added (pack 65) for Photoshop etc

2011-09-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

Latest addition to the graphicxtras site is a pack of 50 patterns X letter themed - the patterns are for Photoshop, PSP etc
X patterns pack

To see all the patterns (well a little selection of the patterns)

Star pattern set for Photoshop and PSP etc

2011-09-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

Latest release on graphicxtras is a set of sketch / drawn etc star patterns for Photoshop and PSP - Pack 64

Star patterns

Added new Christmas snow pattern set for Photoshop

2011-09-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

A slight change this time to my pattern sets with the use of a new tool to create patterns .. pack 63 patterns 'Christmas snow' for Photoshop, PSP etc. Set includes PAT and PNG files and also a bonus set of EPS designs. 50 Patterns in total, 500 x 500 (though they can be re-scaled).

below is a quick document showing the patterns (cropped and watermarked)

Open publication - Free publishing

Basic patterns pack 62 for Photoshop, PSP etc released

2011-09-25T05:48:00.000-07:00

Latest release on graphicxtras is a set of 100 basic patterns for Photoshop, PSP etc Pack 62. The set includes the designs in PAT format as well as PNG format and EPS so they can be used also in Illustrator and other applications.

To see all the patterns, or at a selection of the patterns applied in multiple ways - document on Issuu

Open publication - Free publishing

People shapes for Photoshop and elements

2011-09-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Added a new people / faces shapes set for use with Photoshop and Elements - 60 faces. The designs are all based on work created in Poser 9 (the latest version of the great posing tool from Smith Micro) - The shapes title 'pack 152'

People face shapes for Photoshop and Elements

also added a quick comic - ok, no real story but it shows that the shapes can be combined to create a quick comic

Photoshop elements 10

2011-09-22T06:18:00.001-07:00

Noticed that Adobe have released a new version of their popular Photoshop Elements application - version 10. Not sure how much has changed but checking out the notes from various sites does suggest that little has changed with relation to shapes, brushes, patterns etc - so I guess they will all be fine in Photoshop elements 10 as with elements 9 and 8 and 7 etc

anyway, will be able to say for sure once the trial version comes out - probably won't be upgrading this time around (too many other packages on my 'to buy' list)

Rose petal patterns pack released

2011-09-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

The latest patterns pack 'rose petals' (pack 61) for Photoshop, PSP has just been released on the graphicxtras site. Added a few additional basic tutorials about the use of the patterns as well such as how to create a single line pattern (which would be a nifty feature if they added it to the pattern tool anyway - along with rotation of patterns and slanting of patterns but then again, we can dream). The set includes 100 designs - the designs are in PAT, PNG and EPS formats. I was thinking about removing the PAT format but then again it makes it a little harder for Photoshop elements users as they cannot quickly and easily create the patterns on the fly (there is a define pattern but no easy access to script / actions other than via some XML coding).

rose petal patterns

Baffled over sitemaps

2011-09-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

Noticed on my google webmaster section that I have a ton of old duff files re-appearing - I could understand that if they were appearing because they are somehow linked via some external site but for some reason google is listing the files as if they are listed in my sitemap.xml .. which is totally odd as they are not in that listing.

I have repeatedly re-submitted the sitemap xml file (it has about 200 files listed) and yet for some reason the old one still seems to be the one being used in the google webmaster - totally baffled about that.

http://www.graphicxtras.com/sitemap.xml

as I not adding new files for each product (multiple products are on the same page - all themed - just to keep the number of pages down)

Poser 9 / Real Draw / GroBoto 3

2011-09-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

Poser 9 is now available - just installed it. Whew, I always have problems with installs - anyway, all installed and as ever, what a wonderful application. Got some interesting new features to explore over the next few months

Been playing around with Real Draw Pro - a really nice application - really love the NPR sketch / paint etc effects for vector designs.

Also GroBoto 3 is finally out - a really powerful tool. I have been using Groboto 2 for ages and have found it a very useful application

Rose petal example document

2011-09-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

I have been trying (not always successfully) to add a document showing many of the font shapes

The document can be found on issuu

Open publication - Free publishing

Rose Petal font set

2011-09-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

Latest release on graphicxtras is font pack 161 (includes EPS symbols and TTF font set) for use with Photoshop, PSP etc - includes 100+ Rose Petal shapes.

Alex Toth: Setting The Standard

2011-09-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Alex Toth book / preview and information

This book has taken a while to come out (it was announced ages back) but it was worth the wait. The book contains all of Alex Toth's superb work for Standard Comics back in the 50s (1952 - 54) Includes interviews, letters, original art etc - a really superb book at a great price.

Swirl galaxy font volume 2 and PDF document

2011-09-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

Slowly, and it will be slowly, going through many of my vector sets and adding a PDF document showing many of the designs included in the set. The latest one being swirl galaxy vector font set for Photoshop, Indesign etc

Swirl galaxy font set

Open publication - Free publishing

Letter font set for Photoshop, psp etc

2011-09-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Latest release - letter font set for use in Photoshop, PSP etc. The set includes 100 designs all themed around L and T (as well as a few bonus items). Font pack 159 'Letters'

See some (nearly most) of the shapes from the set below.

Open publication - Free publishing - More examples

The set is for most applications. The font set is easy to install and use, just add to the control panel on the PC or use the font book application on the mac. Once loaded, the font set is accessible via the typeface dropdown of most applications.

There is also a free sampler set on the web page

Some examples of the text / letters above

This is the first product I have released for a while as I have been updating the graphicxtras website as well as my google product pages and also my sales pages - still not totally finished but hopefully it will all be done by the end of this month. Still not totally happy with the layout of the items - perhaps some better divider of products is needed ?

Manuals

2011-08-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

All the manuals for the graphicxtras.com products are on
http://www.graphicxtras.com/manuals.htm
They are also on the individual pages as well for each of the products.

In most cases, manuals are on issuu - a few still remain with their old links to a now non-existent website but I will update those over the next few days so all the manuals will be accessible via the excellent Issuu site

The freebie samplers all via graphicxtrasmarket.co.uk will no longer work as that server has gone.. still, there are many demos available on the graphicxtras site

Site update

2011-08-17T09:28:00.000-07:00

Making reasonable progress with the shapes sets - reducing all the custom shapes pages to just a cover image and a couple of images and a lot of information about the shapes. I have kept all the images associated with the shapes (in most cases) instead of deleting items and then regretting and ending up with 1000s of image errors. Really wish I had started with this approach right from day 1... dread to think how many images I have created and deleted on the site and how much time I have wasted (time that could have been spent developing new font sets and also some new plugins and also work on other projects). Anyway, the site cleanup proceeds.

Still got tons of products to add to shareit.com, that will take some time and I won't be able to do all that in one go - one or two products a day is enough for me to work on.

Once all the site has been cleaned up (product-wise) I will update all the menu structure and navigation - perhaps Flash. For some reason the navigation ends up in search engines more than the actual content so even if the page is about Flash or Freehand - the text uses the navigation and displays it as a 'photoshop brushes' page (totally odd)

Custom shapes section for Photoshop

Font pages on graphicxtras

2011-08-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

There are many font packs on the graphicxtras site - they used to be spread over about 150 pages but now they have been reduced (slowly) to about 12 or so category pages. The fonts are probably the best products for maximum use over most applications as you can use the fonts as a source for shapes, brushes, patterns, textures, swatches etc. They are also vectors so they can be used with any size of work, they are not just limited to 300 DPI as with the brushes and patterns. The fonts can be used in Photoshop, Elements, Xara, Photo-Paint, Word, Apple Pages, Illustrator, Inkscape, Indesign, GIMP, etc

They are easy to install as well - just drag to the control panel 'font' section on the PC. On the Mac, use the font book application which can be found in the applications folder. All very easy.

Canonical and noindex and google ?

2011-08-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

I must be doing something wrong with the pages on my site as the noindex seems to have the reverse effect and the pages are more likely to appear in the index than the 'proper' pages. It seems like it will be a year or so before the google index actually reflects the actual pages on the site - it is totally baffling.

Same with canonical link rel .. I have them as absolute links such as http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/ae1.htm - but for some reason google still references the page as http://www.graphicxtras.com/Products/ae1.htm and http://www.graphicxtras.com/products/ae1.htm and says there is a duplicate title etc .. err, no.. there is only one page and that is the one listed with canonical.

Again, perhaps it is me ?? - but it does seem to be reducing the site to a list of SVG and PDF and image files and not any actual pages.

Anyway, got a lot more updates to do - the custom shapes section is taking the next chunk of time as well as adding in a new payment system

10,000 image files and reducing

2011-08-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

Clearly Adobe Dreamweaver, and also my copying of files via the ftp tool in Dreamweaver, has (some) problems with 10,000 or so files in a single folder. Clearly too many though personally I can't see why 100,000 or more can't be handle (what does a computer actually do ?) Getting the dreaded 'waiting for server' error - this is something that has been a moan for a long time with Dreamweaver and it baffles this is not still resolved with CS5 (moans extend way back to version 8 and beyond). Anyway, clearing down a lot of the image files and trying to keep about 6 images examples per product (which still runs to about 5000 odd files). Would like to keep all the images in a single folder as it definitely helps in the naming and XML etc files. Surely 5000 files is fine?? Deleting files manually is slow and probably a few errors will creep in. Hopefully I will be able to use the synchronization feature again ? but if not, I will just go back to my old way of working of copying files on a daily basis. At least my other FTP client works fine with the files.

Still re-working all the pages on my site to get them into categories. As mentioned, 900 products is taking a long time to sort through and the site is still generating endless errors - Google image search is now all over the place with countless files that no longer exist (hopefully at some point by 2020 the search engine will finally realize this). Perhaps I shouldn't have allowed the site to get in this mess - totally my fault and over zealous adding of files. Will show more restraint in future (possibly?).

Google product search

2011-08-07T04:18:00.000-07:00

Been working on my google product xml file. The specification for the product feed has been updated (yet again) and includes additional image links and additional identifiers as well. The image link is now, or will soon be, a required field. Over the last few years I have neglected the image link and only 10% of the products included an image - so I am adding the 90% of covers to the feed. Should only take a minute or so to add an image link but it always seems to take about 10 minutes per product. Hopefully it will make some difference to the number of impressions / clicks on the google product search

Wish there was a specification for the image link - what is the best size or type of file for google ? some of my images really end up distorted and blotchy but then again other images seem to be fine. Also I would love to see the g:additional_image_link google feed to have either a title or alt or the ability to show the image instead of just showing the file name as a link. The link is fine but as there is no way to modify the product page (is there???) with css - the link is just a standard underline with the file name and some of the files are xxxxxx01.jpg etc which really doesn't inspire anyone to click or a second glance.

Still also working on my site and all the images are now in a single folder. 10,000 or so images certainly causes a few problems for dreamweaver, and also my other FTP tool. Also the re-location of the images to a single folder has resulted in 1000s of errors being reported - hopefully that will all resolve as the search engines pick up on the actual file and not the deleted item. I guess there will still be a lot of errors as many of the images have been linked to from other sites and I doubt if they will ever change the link (even if I could e-mail them - rarely get a reply rto any such request)

Inset shapes font released

2011-07-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

Latest set released on graphicxtras.com is Pack 158 Inset. The set contains 100+ inset shapes including circles, stars, letters etc. The set includes the designs in TTF and EPS format for use in Photoshop, Pages, Microsoft Word etc PC and MAC OS X

Inset font set

There is also a freebie font set with some variant inset designs

Horse font added - 100 new horse shapes for Photoshop, PSP, Indesign etc

2011-07-29T06:15:00.000-07:00

Added a new font set to graphicxtras: Horses. The set contains 100 Horse shapes (all vector format for any size of document or artwork) including horse heads, horses trotting, scratchy horses, woodcut horse shapes, horse silhouettes and more. The horses are for Photoshop, Indesign, Microsoft Word, 3D applications and more PC and MAC OS X. The horse set includes the designs in EPS and TTF format. The horses are by graphicxtras.com (Andrew Buckle) for commercial / royalty-free use.

Horse font set for Photoshop, Indesign etc

Grid font set for Photoshop, Indesign etc

2011-07-26T08:21:00.000-07:00

Haven't released much of late as I have been fairly busy making a mess (or re-design) of my website. Anyway, will start to release more font sets over the next few weeks. 100 (well a few more than actually) grid shapes in true type TTF format and EPS vector format. The font set is for commercial use, royalty-free, all by me. The grid shapes are a mix of different smallish grids in a variety of styles. Use in 1000s of different projects

Grid font set pack 156 for Photoshop, Indesign, Word etc

Will try and an add a free font sampler as well as PDF document with all the future releases (though I suspect I will fail in that as sometimes other things get in the way). Anyway, please check out the grid font sampler on the page - simply download from the page and then right click the file (TTF) and you should be prompted with an application etc to run it with - though this varies depending on the OS. On the PC you will get the font viewer displayed and you can install the grid font via that application (or just drag the TTF file into the control panel > fonts) or the font book on the application - again it will ask if you wish to install the font.

Also included a PDF of the grid font shapes on the page - it includes all the visible font grid characters but there are also many others included in the set only once you purchase the set and access the designs via keyboard combinations

How to access the shapes? Just as you would any other font such as Verdana etc - use the typeface dropdown in the application to select the GX font set and then type the characters using the keyboard A B C D E etc

The sampler only has three characters as included in the release set but there are also many variants of the shapes in the sampler set. Not all the character slots are filled but 1 2 3 4 etc A B C D etc a b c d e etc are.

I have put the price up slightly as I will now be selling my new fonts (and probably the older ones) via shareit.com again and there are additional charges in selling via a third party. My apologies for the price increase!

Been making a lot of progress with the site but still got a lot more to do - turning around 900+ pages with 1000s of pictures has proved a lot harder than I imagined.

Christmas brushes: angels, baubles, snow flakes, candle, crackers, holly, decorations etc

2011-07-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

Been updating a lot of graphicxtras site (probably making it worse).

Got lots of Christmas related items such as angel brushes, candle brushes, bauble brushes etc for use in Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop Elements and GIMP and many others. There are also many other Christmas sets such as fonts, patterns and PDF shapes sets. Spent most of the day updating them - as well as a lot of other pages. Just starting to add more tutorials to the pages as well.

Christmas brushes

Christmas patterns

Christmas fonts

Christmas vector shapes

Old images created for the graphicxtras site

2011-07-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

I've always kept backups mainly on CDs - endless CDs, now mainly DVDs etc. Anyway, I have my old abex01 website images and my old sapphire innovations (my previous website) pics as well as tons and tons of images created on my graphicxtras.com. If I had left them (and perhaps I should have done) it would probably run to about 50,000 images. I have cleared too many of them down and well, instead of creating new new new things this week I am resurrecting most of the old images from backups and putting them backup onto the graphicxtras site. Some are terrible and I will be deleting them but some are not too bad and some, well I can re-work them. I probably had more but many have been incorporated and incorporated into other pictures for the site and are now virtually impossible to recover.

I've promised myself from now on.. not to delete them - certainly without giving them a lot more thought. It is a whole lot easier to delete them to re-put them on the site as I gave them very short names 10 years ago.. such as pspat1.jpg.. which could be a psp pattern or a photoshop pattern or - well about anything.

Also I am putting all my images in one basket.. which makes it a lot easier to at least get unique names for all my images as I often use the same old name over and over in different folders from pure laziness of thinking up a new name for a custom shape image.

Looking on the web it does suggest that the folders can hold trillions of files, though I am wary of putting too many in one place - guess it must slow access down a bit ? no idea on that one. Perhaps with the latest OS it is not such an issue?

Will take some time and I will probably re-working them over the next couple of months - probably a good idea as it gives me time to think up a lot more new font sets etc for the site without setting myself too many release deadlines.

Free Y themed patterns pack for Photoshop / psp added to site

2011-07-12T03:19:00.000-07:00

Just been tidying up the patterns area on the graphicxtras - adding a lot more pattern packs as well as information to the patterns and images

Well just added a freebie patterns Y themed pack - only contains 55 patterns but hopefully of interest

There are the other 59 sets as well as the bundle set and also the collection set of 1080 patterns available at a reasonable price!

Patterns for Photoshop, PSP etc

Photoshop tutorial: displacements as a source for patterns

2011-07-11T14:12:00.001-07:00

Photoshop has a lot of different presets, some are more useful than others and some are useful for a very very specific area (such as Photoshop curves .. certain there can't be many other use for Photoshop curve files than in Photoshop curves - could be wrong on that one)

Each preset has its own file type - gradients are GRD etc but one preset uses the format of the application itself and that is the displacement maps file (or glass file or texturizer texture file - the displacements can be used in a number of filters in Photoshop as well as Elements)

The PSD Photoshop file can be used as a source for patterns as well as a source for brushes in Photoshop.

The displacement file is only grayscale though so you might want to add some color to the pattern beforehand - such as applying a fill and changing the opacity to 50% or use a blending mode such as darken. Just make certain you avoid damaging the seams of the displacement map. Once you have colored the displacement map (you could also perhaps use a filter or an adjustment layer to color the map file) you can then save the texture as a pattern - go to the edit menu > define pattern.

You can find a whole selection of displacement map textures on the graphicxtras site but the same approach can be used with any textures you can find on the web or create yourself.

The one thing to note about the displacement map > pattern.. the generated pattern file PAT file is generally a lot larger than the individual sum of the original files in the case of PNG files etc .. PSD files are often a lot larger.

canonical and mixed case entries in google webmaster

2011-07-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

One thing that keeps baffling me... well, most things baffle on the web

the rel canonical link and mixed cases. I keep finding in my webmaster pages a load of 404 for "/Products" even though the folder is "/products" ... I have no references on my site to /Products, I can't find any on the web relating to /Products and all the graphicxtras.com pages have the link rel canonical pointing to the lowercase versions.. only got 400 or so of the 404 errors because of the /Products entry .. can't find a thing about it on google though - all very frustrating

Likewise the endless duff old pages that never seem to clear out of the google listings... anyone coming to my site on graphicxtras.com probably will give up as all they get from google these days is a dead page .. do they ever clear out of the index to show the 'actual' site?? instead of google's unusual view of the site which now has 100 actual pages and not 1000 (I went a bit crazy and added too many product pages.. now all the product pages grouped in themes - which you would think is more sensible and easier to find things but seems to be making it just as hard for everyone)

http://www.graphicxtras.com site

Dot patterns for Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro

2011-07-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

Just added two more dot pattern sets to graphicxtras.com - the patterns are for Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Illustrator, Indesign etc. Updated the dot patterns page as well. The sets contain the patterns in PAT and PNG and EPS format. Merge patterns, modify patterns, re-color, transform patterns and more.

Dot patterns for Photoshop, PSP

Free weekly download

2011-07-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

I regularly add a free item on the graphicxtras site. Sometimes a complete product or sometimes half or a variant of an earlier product. This time I am adding the link to the free products on my front page of the site - and I will 'strive' (as they say on various reports nowadays) to add a new one each week - whether for Photoshop, Illustrator etc.

if you are interested in getting the new downloads, please check out our twitter or other blogs (as well as this one) to see the new items.

Free downloads of brushes, shapes etc

Dot font set for Photoshop, PSP etc

2011-07-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

Latest font set added is a 100 dot shapes set - linear, circular, rough etc designs for use in Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Word, Pages etc PC and MAC OS X. The set includes the shapes in TTF and EPS format. The shapes are all vectors for any size of document. The dots can all be combined so you can add, subtract, layer etc the dot designs for even more shapes. The dot shapes can be re-colored, and depending on the application, you can also re-color the individual dots (if you have a lot of time on your hand).

The dot font set is pack 155 - got quite a few more font sets to release over the next week or so. Probably do a few press releases on them as well - hopefully.

dot font set

Circle font sets for Photoshop, PSP etc

2011-07-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

Just added a new section for circle, orbital, radial etc circle fonts on the graphicxtras as well as adding a new circle / distressed / crazy font set to the page (pack 154). All the circle fonts are for Photoshop, PSP, Indesign etc PC and MAC OS X

Star fonts

2011-07-06T01:28:00.000-07:00

Just added a new section on the graphicxtras site - star fonts (ok, star fonts and eps shapes to give it the full name). The star font page contains 5 (at present) different star font sets. Probably will add a few more by the end of the week - though I will be working on some of the other sections today.

Gone for a slightly cleaner approach to the pages - also added a new search tool - so hopefully easier and more obvious how to find the pages on the site. At the moment the graphicxtras site is still really all over the place with its pages on various SE - takes time to flush out all the old pages, I guess.

The latest star font set added contains 100 new star designs for use in Photoshop, Indesign and everything else.