Not Your Typical New Year's Resolutions
Do the stereotypical New Year's resolutions -- lose weight, quit smoking, etc. -- leave a bad taste in your mouth? It can feel like you're starting the year with a negative message: You're not good enough as is. Plus, these kinds of resolutions tend to be about changing habits that take a lot of work over time. You most likely will slip up in the beginning, yet if you think of that slip-up as a broken resolution, you may not keep trying.

When resolutions are more positive, they're easier to keep. For example, do you enjoy photography? You could vow to shoot and post online one photo a day for the next year. (Google the phrase "project 365" for lots of photo blog resources.) Are you a graphic designer who likes community involvement? Promise yourself to volunteer with a needy organization, such as the local animal shelter, to create a poster for its next fundraising event. As an added bonus, that pro bono work can give you room to stretch your creative muscles, and it may even net you new clients who see and appreciate your skills.

Share your resolutions and see mine on the CreativePro.com forums.

Terri Stone - Editor in Chief

Mask a Glass and Blend It with a New Background
Follow Russell Brown's advanced Photoshop CS4 techniques for removing the background from a photo of a glass half-full of red wine. Then blend the masked glass into a photo of a Tuscan vineyard.

Here are the before and after images:

Post Your Best Shot of 2009 and See Others
If you're a Flickr member, post your best shot of the year to this special Flickr group pool. Even if you're not a member, you can browse themed collections culled from the pool and be inspired.

This photo is from the Vanishing Point collection:

Related Reading: Enjoy Flickr, or just photography in general? Browse the Flickr Friday archives.

Scanning Around With Gene: Adequate Males Watching Blue Movies Together
Before pornographic movies were on multiple cable channels, they were reserved for special occasions like bachelor parties, and they came in the form of "stag" films. Beware: While these stag film ads from men's magazines of the 1950s and '60s are safe for work, you may get in trouble for laughing loudly as you view them.

TypeTalk: Top Ten Type Resources Online
There are oodles of places to go for type information. Check out Ilene Strizver's list to see if your favorite online resource made her top 10. You might even find a new favorite. Here's one of Ilene's choices:

QuarkXPress Tips: Word Import, Printing Fix, Preview Prescience
Jay Nelson has put together a handy collection of tips on better importing from Microsoft Word, troubleshooting QuarkXPress printer problems, cutting paths, and more. For example, did you know that if you click anywhere on a box of any shape, it will become an open path at that point?

Now Shipping: Viveza 2 for Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture

Enlarge Images to High Resolutions

New Source of Poster Inspiration

Using Facebook for Marketing? Read This

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