*** From the Archives ***

This article is from June 22, 2011, and is no longer current.

Free For All: The American Southwest

Last month, I moved from the green and cloudy Portland, Oregon, to Phoenix, Arizona, the Valley of the Sun. The transition inspired me to devote two installments of Free For All to contrasting collections of environment-inspired textures, photos, Photoshop Actions, and other freebies.
Last month I focused on the beauty of the American Northwest. In this installment, the free resources celebrate the American Southwest.
These resources are only inspired by the regions; they’ll almost certainly prove useful additions to your resource libraries for a variety of projects, whether related to the region or not.
Note that page 1 has free photographs, textures, color palettes, and patterns. For free Photoshop Actions and Photoshop brushes, go to page 2.
Photography and Textures
I’ve collected 120 free stock photos and textures into two Stock.Xchng lightboxes: FFA Southwest 1 and FFA Southwest 2. The images, which range from textures to people, nature to manmade structures, and even a few odds and ends that are unique to the American Southwest, represent life in the lower-left corner of the United States dominated by Phoenix, Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, and Utah.
Note: You need a free membership to Stock.Xchng to download the images in these lightboxes.
FFA Southwest Lightbox 1 (60 images)

FFA Southwest Lightbox 2 (60 images)

Palettes and Patterns
Every climate and geographic region can be expressed in terms of color and pattern. Below are color palettes that say “Southwest,” for your inspiration and import into Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks, Painter, and other creative professional applications.
Click any of the images to go to their download page. You’ll need a free membership to either ColourLovers or Kuler to download the palettes.




























































































































For free Photoshop Actions and Photoshop brushes, go to page 2.


1 2 Next

Pariah S. Burke is the author of many books and articles that empower, inform, and connect creative professionals.
  • Anonymous says:

    double doink

  • >