Here is a list of really fantastic websites and blogs, by category, that have inspired me and helped me learn. Of course, there are endless resources out there on the web, but these are the specific ones that I personally found useful. Enjoy! ( ^ ᗜ ^ )
CALLIGRAPHY & LETTERING
- The Postman’s Knock – SUPER helpful and detailed tutorials!
- OpenInkstand – Schin’s blog is constantly updated with inspiring calligraphy, and she answers reader questions!
- Maybelle the Calligrapher
- Besotted Blog
- Melissa Esplin
- Blue Eye Brown Eye
- The Fozzy Book
- Leigh Reyes – Her calligraphy art music videos will make you cry
- Seanwes – Crisp, clean lettering art (and my celebrity crush)
- White Smoke Creative – Breezy lettering style that I really like
- HeyMatthew – Jaw-dropping folded pen and graphic design work
- Jennet Liaw – I love her minimal, clever style
- Sarah Dayan – Her long-form articles and videos are very detailed!
- @inkcitra – Instagram account with lovely ink!
GRAPHIC DESIGN
- Creative Market – FREEEE graphics and design goodies every Monday! ٩(◕▽◕)۶
- Brusheezy – Huge online repository of Photoshop brushes
- Font Squirrel – Free fonts for commercial use, no strings attached!
- From Up North – Awesome web, graphic, and general design eye candy
- Dribbble – The best place to gawk at brilliant design work for hours…
- SpoonGraphics – Free graphics, brushes, and textures
- Method.ac – Little games for graphic designers. A new (fun) way to stress yourself out!
- Google Fonts – For fonts that will definitely work. Yay!
- Wordmark.it – Tool that previews any text in every font you currently have installed on your computer. SO HELPFUL.
- Noirve – Branding and design company, I just love her aesthetic
STATIONERY
- Oh So Beautiful Paper – Blog of letters, envelopes, cards, and all things paper
- Oh Hello Friend – Shop selling adorable stationery and accessories! My alphabet stamp set, plus cards and some washi tapes, are from here.
- Paper Crush – Stationery and office inspiration
- Paper Crave – So much eye candy — cards, calligraphy, and more!
PENS & PENCILS
- JetPens.com <<SHAMELESS PLUG! ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)
- The Pen Addict
- The Well-Appointed Desk
- Ed Jelley
- Woodclinched
- The Clicky Post
- From the Pen Cup
- Gourmet Pens
- Inkophile
- Nib & Ink
- The Desk of Adam
- Pencil Revolution
- The Writing Arsenal
- Three Staples
- The Pen Addict Podcast
- The Erasable Podcast
- Dot Grid Podcast
- & More…
DIY & LIFESTYLE
- Almost Makes Perfect
- Coco and Mingo
- Fall for DIY
- Hello Lidy
- Make and Tell
- Dan Chern Photography – Dan took the portrait on my About page. Check out his wedding and lifestyle work, it’s amazing!
CODING & WEB DESIGN
- Pugly Pixel – Videos on coding and graphic design
- CSS Primer – Really helpful series that gave me enough know-how to confidently tweak the CSS of this site
- WordPress Primer – Helped me get the ball rolling!
- Angie Makes – Blog of a WordPress theme developer and artist
- Dash by General Assembly – Series of small capsule lessons that teach you HTML and CSS, they are pretty fun!
- Code it Pretty – Blogger-friendly HTML and CSS tips
- The Blog Market – WordPress tutorials, plus some Photoshop tutorials
- Skillshare – Free (or paid, but thus far I’ve only taken the free ones as they are released) classes taught by creatives
- Introduction to HTML with Jenn Lukas
- Fundamentals of Photoshop with Meg Lewis
- Favicon Generator – Turn any image into a favicon for your site!
- Sublime Text – The prettiest text editor
- Notepad++ – The less pretty but still awesome text editor
MISCELLANEOUS NEAT STUFF
- Donger List – (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I just want to put these things everywhere…
- Rainmeter – Windows tool for making your desktop more functional + pretty!
- IFTTT – Little automation things via the power of the interwebs. Automate ALL the things!
- Better Desktop Tool – Give your PC some Mac functions like Exposé and Spaces!
- Momentum – Chrome extension that turns a new tab into a beautiful inspiring photo, PLUS date and time, motivational quote, and a rad to-do list function
- Amadeus – The free WordPress theme I am currently running