There are so many great free fonts to choose from these days but let’s face it, 99% would never really be used more than once or for a special occasions. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Star Trek font but it’s not going into any of my designs but it’s fun to have. What I need are sensible fonts that are tasteful yet have their own style. Most of the free fonts listed below meet that criteria although a couple would definitely be considered a little over the top.

When I design, I very rarely use a background with just a solid color or gradient. For me it’s just too smooth and clean, so I will go to my textures folder and grab one for adding some contrast and contour. If I want to keep it subtle I go to my paper textures and blend lightly over my background color. It’s one of the first things I do when starting a new project and almost always gives me ideas for where to go next in the design.

Marta uses Painter and Photoshop to create some amazing digital paintings. Her talent has led her to constant commercial work but as a result has made her online presence non-existent. Luckily she has a lot of paintings online that we can all sit back and admire.

Animals are cute, lovable, and make great desktop wallpaper. For those of you that like a softer look then check out these adorable paintings. Maybe next week we’ll do something a bit more graphic to counter all of these sweet & mushy images.