The question of "what makes a monster" is a rather tricky one. Most of us associate monsters with fictional characters that have grotesque appearances and are the villains in legends, fiction books, videogames and movies. Indeed, the word "monster" is derived from language that means that something was wrong with the normal order/development of a creature. However, monsters don’t always have to be grotesque in outward appearance, in fact, it’s often the psychological nature that is the most terrifying of all, particularly when combined with a charming or attractive outward appearance. Monsters are incredibly common characters in all forms of media, so there are a lot of artistic interpretations of what makes a monster. Here’s a few examples: Cyclops by Jamesface Magic The Gathering: Fell Shepherd by Cryptcrawler Monster Head by Guangjian Huang Knight of Crows by jamesface Golems by Maria Trepalina Thanatos by ChrisCold WoW: Wrath of the Lich King by David Luong Zombie Claus by kerembeyit Serpentes Antiqua by Alexandre Chaudret Nightmare by leventep Related Posts Monster Themed Logos for Halloween Eye-Catching Digital Paintings to Inspire You Great Photoshop Art & Design Tutorials 30 Decadent Chocolate Photographs for Your Valentine Free Texture Friday - Grunge Surface

Today I’m giving away a set of textures that have been edited with Photoshop to create a grunge and dark feeling. These are best served as overlays and backgrounds, use at will for both personal and commercial projects. Enjoy! Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (20.8Mb) Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (20.8Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - B&W Grunge 5 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Rust 2 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Surface Free Texture Friday - Gravel Free Texture Friday - Pink Colored Paper

To most people, a window is just an opening in the wall. Sometimes it’s screened in, other times it has glass panes, and sometimes it’s just a hole in the wall. But a window is so much more than just an opening in the wall. It lets breeze flow into a house, it brightens a room by allowing light to flood in and chase away the darkness, and in some ways, windows are almost essential to our living and well-being when indoors. Windows also serve as a great thematic concept in photography. Looking through a window, at the outside world, or seeing into a structure though just a small window, can provide powerful meaning in photos: Old By Silvia Simonato window By namik toprakci window By CannonCat There’s a world out there By Vito Guarino Behind the Old Window By Adrian Limani Benji’s Window By Noni Panayotov bullies and Dolls By franco maffei Window By Oleg-Y Rear Window By Alfon No Ooooo my neighbor By Vuk Adzic Window By Marek Czaja Window By Ivo Cristallo Mother Son By erkan camlilar Door and window By Tamás Kiss Watchin’ Outside By Ciro Galluccio window By NadyaBird Expressions By Goran Jovic Midsummer Evening By Photography By Jonas K I would like to be out By Vladimir Off Zivancevic - krug Window By Victoria Hellner Window By NostalgiaPhotos New years day By Stig Hammarsten Arterial By SYMPL IMAGES Ann By Evgeny Kuznetsov Window By Dragan Todorovic Dreams By Osher Partovi Beautiful window By Aubélia Vanneste after school By Igal Pronin Window By Rainer Leiss Taking a rest !!!!! By Rosetta N M Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Grungy Window Free Texture Friday - Dirty Windows 30 Beautiful Black & White Portraits Photographers at Work in Pictures Crystal Clear Glass Photography

Valentine’s day is a commonly celebrated holiday around the world, marked on February 14th. Initially the celebration of an early Christian saint named Valentinus, Valentine’s day began taking on romantic overtones during the middle ages, and the more modern tradition of Valentine’s day first evolved in 18th century England. Valentine’s day is essentially celebrated as a lovers’ holiday. Couples frequently present each other with flowers, chocolates, other candy and greeting cards, as an expression of the affection they have for the other person. The significance of the holiday varies from person to person and couple to couple, with some preferring to just spend time together without any material components, whereas for others, the special occasion calls for dinner, flowers, candy, movies and more. The love that is associated with Valentine’s day is a great concept for photography, because it’s possible to capture the joy and emotion that is expressed. Happy Valentine’s Day By Shawn Grenninger Happy Valentine’s Day By Jacky Parker A Rose Needs No Words By Braulio Cosme waiting for love By Awat Abdulla Happy valentine’s day! By Sue Vanderschans Happy Valentine’s Day… By Ahmad Kavousian Dance By Stanislav Šebek Happy Valentine’s Day!!! By yuri bazhan Be My Valentine By Alexander Wolf Valentine’s Roses By Terence Pereira Related Posts 30 Decadent Chocolate Photographs for Your Valentine Valentine’s Day Heart Photography 10 New Years Celebration Photographs 30 Time Themed Photographs Windows: More than Just an Opening in Photography

Todays textures look like they came from a horror movie. These nasty grunge surfaces can be used to create a terrifying and gloomy atmosphere in your artwork, or you can use them as overlays as with most of the textures we post. I hope you enjoy them! (Zip file available at the bottom of this post.) Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (22Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Dark Red Grunge Free Texture Friday - B&W Grunge 5 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Rust 2 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Overlays Free Texture Friday - Green Leaves 2

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so around the world, couples are scrambling to arrange their final dinner and evening plans for their sweetheart. One of the most commonly gifted items on Valentine’s Day is chocolates. Chocolate is a quintessential romance item. Aside from aphrodisiac properties, chocolate also contains various alkaloids and other compounds that are stimulative as well as anxiolytic. Plus, chocolate tends to taste very delicious. Chocolate can be crafted into various shapes, objects, and presented in various ways. Here’s a few decadent chocolate photographs for your special valentine. Chocolates by Andrey Kobushev Valentines Chocolate Heart by Andy Ciordia Valentines Goody Pails Valentines Chocolate by inanalienworld Valentine Chocolate by PetiteCreation Truffle Time by Delonne duPlessis Valentine Chocolate by amCoffeepmTea Feast of Taste by Zeynep Ugurdag Chocolates& Sugar by claudia mchenry Valentines Chocolate Torte Chocolate Cake by likoda16 Valentines Chocolate Box by smvwines Chocolate and Strawberries 2 by NerdyArtist Valentine Chocolate 03 by Hanki Cater Valentines Day Chocolate by Ken Lee Chocolate and Pralines by PetitPlat Valentines Chocolates by Michael chocolate cake by tracylopez Harrods Valentines by Chocablog Eugen Pralines Chocolate by oshrubbery Valentines Chocolates by goddess of chocolate Chocolate Love Pots by claremanson Valentine Day Chocolates by Julia Baker Home Made Chocolate by Razuri-chan Valentines Chocolates by Kirsty Orr Valentines Cake by ginas-cakes valentines chocolate #1 by ilaria Valentines Day Chocolates Candy by Pison Jaujip Related Posts Deliciously Sweet Desserts Photography Valentine’s Day Heart Photography Out of this World Photo manipulation Tutorials Romance in the Air: Valentine’s Day Photography Rich Color in Birds Photography

The heart is the primary symbol of love and especially for Valentine’s day. The symbolic action of falling in love is commonly depicted as Cupid firing an arrow and piercing a heart. While the heart doesn’t actually govern emotions and feelings of love, in antiquity, it was believed that the heart was the source of love and emotions, prior to modern neuroscience. The red color of the heart is commonly associated with passion and desire, so artwork that is focused on the heart frequently focuses on capturing the vibrant, crisp, bright red color to enhance the power of the symbolism. For photographers, the heart is a more challenging concept. Photographing the actual heart is rather difficult, and the reality of a beating heart isn’t quite as romantic as the concept would promise. Therefore, heart photography tends to focus more on the shape or symbolic recreation of the heart: Sailing into Destiny by pixelmama Heart by LietingaDiena Lovers by Przemyslaw Kruk Give someone your heart by Uschi Heart by xXLonging-HeartXx Broken Heart by Marylee Pope Pour out ones Heart by Uschi A heart full of roses by fuchsphoto Love Cherries by olimage .: Heart :. by Bromelia94 Related Posts 30 Decadent Chocolate Photographs for Your Valentine Breathtaking Nighttime Photographs Amazing Lighting in Photography Majestic Cityscape Photographs Photographer Focus - Juliana Nan

Hey guys, this set of textures can be used for adding vintage feel to almost any design or illustration. I hope that you like them and can find a good use for them. You can download the whole set via the download link at the bottom of this post. Enjoy! Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (11Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Vintage Paper 4 Free Texture Friday - Pink Colored Paper Free Texture Friday - B&W Grunge 5 Free Texture Friday - B&W Stone Surface Free Texture Friday - Gravel

Time is one of the most precious things we have in life. None of us are guaranteed more time on Earth, and spending time is the ultimate opportunity cost. Any time you spend doing something, you forgo spending that time on other things. Thus, making the most of the time we are given is one of the keys to living a happy life. That doesn’t mean that time can’t be wasted for a good reason, and it’s often said that wasted time that is enjoyed is not wasted time. Time is a fun concept for photographers to play with, because it’s possible to express the passage (or stoppage) of time in a variety of ways. Photography itself is the ability to capture a moment in time, but just because it’s a single moment doesn’t mean that time can’t be advancing: Too late By Hilde Ghesquiere Rush hour By Caras Ionut Please move faster, I want to grow up By Yvette Depaepe The Passage of Time By Toni Verdú Carbó Vacation time By Tatyana Tomsickova As Long As Forever Was By paulo abrantes When We Were Young By Bruno Di Bernardo Time By Taci … By Piotr Haskiewicz Time By Maphtep Story hands By Jaap Coorens Time gone By nebula Hudson 1936 By Andre van Huizen Wrong century By Brickphoto Funeral By Goran Jovic The Hands of Time By Margaret Morgan rusty time By Nuno Mota Running ghost By Caras Ionut tin toy By Waldemar Markiewka The House By Tracy Parker "sunset" (Istanbul) By e&e photography Early Afternoon By Agnès L. T I M E By Edgar Monzón The time has gone By Albert Vik Aged By Zharov Andrey old timer sunset By Dustin Miller time By guzin-guzin Waiting for the next train By Fabrizio Furno Old Times By Saša Krušnik Time By onurkorkmaz Related Posts Romance in the Air: Valentine’s Day Photography Crystal Clear Glass Photography Geometry in the World with Photographs of Lines Windows: More than Just an Opening in Photography Photographers at Work in Pictures

Birds are some of the most colorful animals on the planet. The colors of bird feathers are produced by pigments, microscopic elements that refract, or scatter select wavelengths of light. Colors of feathers are useful for a variety of reasons, such as attracting mates or serving as camouflage. The colors of birds specifically were developed during natural selection, where the desirable color characteristics allowed certain mates to reproduce with higher success. Usually (although not always), the male of the bird species is more colorful than the female. The color of birds can really make for some spectacular photographs, although getting a good snapshot can be difficult since birds are easily startled and fly away quickly. But for the patient photographer, the results can be stunning: On Her Perch by Andrew Steele All My Beauty by Alessandro Rossini Tropical Living by Jessy Bright Feathers Welcome to the New Year by Hennie van Heerden Fine Art of Landing by Thomas Retterath Top model by giorgio debernardi Love Bird Yellow by Mohamad Faizal Omar Shy by Ilias Nikoloulis It is Freezing by BenHeine Related Posts Warming Inspirational Sunset Photographs Valentine’s Day Heart Photography Majestic Examples of Bird Photography 30 Decadent Chocolate Photographs for Your Valentine Dazzling Action Photography