Category Archives: Xara Xtreme

Planet and solar system tutorial


My guest tutorial on how to create a planet and a solar system in Xara Xtreme 5 is published (Nov 15th) at XaraXone.
Especially the steps on how to make the starry background is rather brilliant if I may say so myself.

An additional explanation about the background on page 4 and 5 could be in place: If I did not make the snowy bitmap a black and white contone, I would not be able to use the color fill profile to adjust the strong contrast that creates the starry effect.

If you have read my previous posts you probable know by now that my favorite work horse for digitally created images is Xara Xtreme and the images made are in theory vector images, but in real life it is more of a hybrid between vector and bitmaps. And this tutorial is in theory a vector image where I have used a couple of bitmaps as color fills. If you do not have Xara Xtreme you can download a trial version here. Could be interesting for all you Illustrator users to compare and test.

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Also posted in Tips and tricks, Useful things | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Christmas Twitter Duck

Another set of the Twitter Duck buttons with a Christmas theme. Feel free to use them!

Christmas duck 01a

Christmas duck 01a

Christmas Twitter Duck button

Christmas Twitter Duck button

Christmas Twitter Duck small button

Christmas Twitter Duck small button

Also posted in Fun stuff, Portfolio | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Introducing Twitter Duck

As Twitter becomes more and more popular, all kinds off Twitter designs and button start to appear on internet. Seeing some interesting Twitter birds I thought I make a Twitter Duck, based on my digital rubber duck design (rather Smurfy I would say).
Take a look at my Christmas duck design as well!
Feel free to use the buttons below (…and I don’t mind if you add my credits or a link back to this page).

twitter duck 01a

twitter duck 01a

twitter duck 01b

twitter duck 01b

twitter duck 02a

twitter duck 02a

twitter duck 02b

twitter duck 02b

twitter duck button

twitter duck button

twitter duck small button

twitter duck small button

Also posted in Fun stuff, Portfolio | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Christmas Rubber Duck

A digital rubber duck wearing a Santa hat in an icy pond

A digital rubber duck wearing a Santa hat in an icy pond

This image is based on the other rubber ducks I have made,. Here I added a Santa Claus hat, an icy texture to the water and some snowy background. The snowflakes are a custom made brush. Some people may think this is a Photoshop image, but it is actually vector, made with Xara Xtreme Pro.

The design is available at Zazzle as Christmas cards, stamps and mouse pads:

Also posted in Portfolio | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Illustration Friday: Strings

Soon, no strings attached

No more strings

Here’s an illustration made for the weekly Illustration Friday, this weeks theme: Strings.
Here we see a puppet looking like George W. Bush and is about to have its strings cut by the 2009 scissors.
The illustration is a pencil sketch which was scanned and imported in Xara Xtreme Pro where I added the colors.

Also posted in Illustration Friday | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

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