Astronomy intrigues me. I’m a regular APOD surfer. I love reading about space, and the images of the universe, I find inspiring. Here’s a list of “Public Domain” astronomy images that I put together, all of which I found on Wikimedia. If you aren’t familiar with Wikimedia, it doesn’t have a stellar (pun intended) selection, but it’s a very good source of Public Domain and GNU licensed images. So here we go, let’s start off the list with none other than our very own blue marble.

Earth

Full resolution: 3,000 × 3,075 pixels

Full resolution: 2,048 × 2,048 pixels

Full resolution: 2,048 × 2,048 pixels

Full resolution: 3,000 × 3,002 pixels

Full resolution: 1,696 × 2,074 pixels

.

Full resolution: 2,458 × 2,458 pixels

Full resolution: 2,400 × 2,400 pixels

Full resolution: 3,097 × 3,000 pixels

The Moon

Full resolution: 1,280 × 978 pixels

Full resolution: 2,560 × 1,920 pixels

Full resolution: 1,986 × 1,986 pixels

Mars

Full resolution: 2,000 × 2,000 pixels

Full resolution: 1,552 × 1,552 pixels

Mars’ moon Phobos

Full resolution: 3,374 × 3,300 pixels

Saturn

Full resolution: 2,766 × 1,364 pixels

Full resolution: 4,000 × 2,527 pixels

Full resolution: 8,888 × 4,544 pixels

Saturn’s moon Rhea

Full resolution: 4,920 × 4,820 pixels

Venus

Full resolution: 4,096 × 4,096 pixels

Jupiter

Full resolution: 2,260 × 3,207 pixels

Galaxies

Full resolution: 6,200 × 6,200 pixels

Full resolution: 1,730 × 1,428 pixels

Full resolution: 5,302 × 3,805 pixels

Full resolution: 4,014 × 3,865 pixels

Full resolution: 3,000 × 2,016 pixels

Full resolution: 6,637 × 3,787 pixels

Full resolution: 6,000 × 4,690 pixels

Full resolution: 3,915 × 3,885 pixels

Full resolution: 11,472 × 6,429 pixels

Full resolution: 8,952 × 6,213 pixels

Nebulae

Full resolution: 6,000 × 2,906 pixels

Full resolution: 3,601 × 4,004 pixels

Full resolution: 4,806 × 3,364 pixels

Full resolution: 3,182 × 1,282 pixels

Full resolution: 18,000 × 18,000 pixels

Typophile

I.Love.Typography

Typography *

Found Type

Vintage Type

Wood Type

Typography and Lettering

Folk Typography

I ♥ Typography

Your Typography

• Typography • INSPIRATION • David Carson •

fonts&typography

handmade_typography/lettering

Typography of the World

i love typography

Design & Typography

Calligraphy

You’ll find a ton of stuff to gawk at in the Showcase section.

By: Mau Design

By: James White

By: ~ l e l e ~

By: dewd_541

By: Brent Nelson

By: eric is so eric

By: Mau Design

By: Brent Nelson

By: Brad Ruggles

By: Edmond Yang

By: iciio

By: giackop

By: justinvg

By: justinvg

By: justinvg

By: jasperio

By: UNIQUE VISION

By: Digital Skraps

By: G∫D

1. Business Cards – A Photoset on Flickr

2. 18 Smokin’ Hot Business Card Designs – by Freelance Switch

3. Cool Business Cards – by Inspiredology

4. Cool Business Card Designs – by creativebits

5. Creative Business Cards – by TutorialBlog

6. The Art of the Business Card – a Flickr Group Pool

7. The Business Card – a Flickr Group Pool

8. The Coolest Business Cards – by AllGraphicDesign

Some of James’ Works:

James’ Flickr Page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/signalnoiseart/

James’ Website:

www.Signalnoise.com

James

My name is James and I’m a graphic designer working in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. After drawing all my life, I trained to be a designer from 1995 to 1998 and have been working in the field ever since. I do corporate design work by day and always have various personal art projects I work on during the evenings and weekends, which ultimately fuels my love of art and creation. I let my design and personal art bounce off of one another as I learn new techniques.

James

Everything is a challenge. Whether it’s a client job or a piece I want to create for myself, it’s the process of coming up with an idea and executing it properly that really keeps my fires burning. Art and design is everywhere, and I draw a lot from my environment in terms of inspiration and exploring different styles. I start my with a mug of coffee and surfing the web for art updates (mostly via ffffound.com) which is easy because the web is flooded with new art every single day. Being an artist isn’t limited to the pencil or computer, to me it’s a way of life so it’s very easy for me to keep the ball rolling.

James

My weapons of choice are Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and my mitts. I’ll sketch out an idea to nail down a simple composition that appeals to me aesthetically, then mock it up in Illustrator using simple blocks so I can experiment with color on the fly. After that it is a matter of building all of the elements I require for the given piece, which sometimes involves using Flash as a random asset generator for shapes and things. Illustrator is where most of the logos, type and precise shapes begin. I then use Photoshop to bring everything together and really refine the composition, colors, type and texture. I rely quite heavily on the happy mistakes that happen along the way which causes me to see the piece in a new light and may give me ideas I never would have considered otherwise. My process is rather lengthy, but it’s enjoyable to see all of the elements finally come together when/if they do.

James

Blocks happen fairly seldom to me because I really do try and immerse myself in what I love all the time. I’m constantly watching inspiring movies and cartoons, reading design magazines and comic books, and keeping up on the internet art scene as much as I can. I also do a lot of art history research. Having inspiring material and people around all of the time really makes design-blocks a rare occurrence, and keeps me into what I’m doing. Many of my friends are creative types and their ambition to pursue their own projects is very easy to get swept up in.

To get a shot of inspiration I will sometimes start reading US conspiracy theories and checking out 1970s television network promotions on Youtube. Sounds strange I know, but it works.

When a block or bout of discouragement should hit, I normally just go for a walk to get away from my sketchbook and computer for a while. I live close to a park and the ducks there are good company.

James

Constantly. I love my rock and metal and it keeps me going as I click away in Photoshop or do some sketching. Some of the art pieces I have created hinge directly on what I might be listening to at the time because I love music so much. A few of my favorite bands to play as I work are Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zeppelin, In Flames, Massive Attack, The Beatles, Isis, Pelican, Mastodon, Jesu, Tool, Red Sparowes, Unkle, etc.

James

I’ve come across so much great work that has inspired me, but I’ll do my best to pare it down. Older influences come from the early part of the 1900s, guys like Georges Braque, Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Marcel Duchamp, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Saul Bass and the Bauhaus School. Most of these artists were practising far before the computer was invented, yet there work and style are benchmarks in a lot of new work coming out today.

I surf a lot of artists’ websites to keep up on what is happening on the modern global art scene. There are some wonderful things happening online now in the ‘post web-boom’ era, and so many artists who came to light in the early 2000s have really found their voice. Some of the artists I’ve been watching over the years are Joshua Davis (Joshuadavis.com), Scott Hansen (iso50.com), Chuck Anderson (Nopattern.com), Fatoe (Fatoe.com), Jemma Hostetler (Prate.com), Mike Cina (Trueistrue.com), Mike Young (Designgraphik.com), Sheppard Fairey (Obeygiant.com) and the comic book artist Darwyn Cooke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwyn_Cooke).

James

Absolutely. I am always interested in potential commission or collaboration work, and I’d love to work with any of the musicians or artists I listed above. My full contact information can be found on my website, Signalnoise.com.

James

Keep the pedal to the metal. Never stop trying new things and exploring different avenues and mediums. You will never know your full potential if you set boundaries for yourself so keep looking forward and plan how to evolve your work. Also, there are riches to be found in the past. A little bit of online art history research is a wonderful way to generate new ideas and concepts. If you have an artist who is your hero, find out who influenced them!

xLukex.beard’s Flickr Page:

xLukex.beard on Flickr

Interview with xLukex.beard

xLukex.beard

My name is Luke, I’m 20 and I am a self taught graphic designer and have been at it about 5 years or so now. I live in a sleepy little place in England called The Forest Of Dean (A location mentioned a few times in the new Harry potter book for anyone who has read it).

xLukex.beard

Being mostly involved with music industry I am constantly fascinated by artwork for cd’s, vinyl’s and merchandise designs. When you walk past a CD by a band that you normally not give a second look and be 100% drawn in by the artwork, that is the drive! That look and interests is the small yet profound effect you have had on that person even for that small space of time.

xLukex.beard

If I had to say one thing then id love to say that my work surprises people. That its far from what they expected but more of what they were thinking.

xLukex.beard

Grab a guitar! I often find my self playing away sat in front of the monitor. it relaxes me a hell of alot and can get my head straight if I need that elusive idea.

xLukex.beard

Blaring Constantly! Its the only way to go. Silence is never very inspiring on any level.

xLukex.beard

Jacob Bannon is one of my all time idols. For people in the vein of what i do. he did the artwork for all the converge albums and many huge bands such as As i lay dying. His style is unmissable and i have yet to see some thing I don’t like.

xLukex.beard

Not right now, but i may be free in the next few months or if the right job comes along.Please feel free to drop me a line on xlukex(at)axecore.com

xLukex.beard

Thanks for taking the time to read me babbling on and check out my work, please support bittbox as it inspires me and many others :)

cheers!