Pixmac blog

To Our Loyal Pixmac Contributors

Lucie Navrátilová — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:47:14 +0000

First, we’re so encouraged by the support we’ve received fron you about the Pond5 integration! By joining forces, our vision of becoming the most artist-friendly, global marketplace for royalty-free media becomes that much more of a reality.

Second, thank you to all the artists who have opted-in to our new Pixmac Contributor Agreement. Nearly all of you have agreed! If you haven’t done so already, you can click log into your account to read and opt-in to the new agreement. From a legal perspective, you are acknowledging the change of ownership from Pixmac to Pond5. From a business perspective, your royalty income will increase to 50% on every sale! All of these things won’t be in effect until the close of our transaction, which leads to our final point below.

Both the Pixmac and Pond5 teams are working hard and fast to get this transaction officially “closed.” As you might have guessed, integrating two global companies requires brains (lots of moving parts!) and brawn (sheer execution!), but we’re confident to say that we’re about to cross the finish line in the next few weeks! Check back here for the latest developments. And if you have any questions, please write us an email at lucie@pixmac.com.

Sincerely yours,

The Pixmac Crew

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Pond5 Acquires Pixmac and Expands International Presence

admin — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:30:36 +0000

Integration Brings Over 150,000 New Users, Millions of Images, and 17 Languages to Pond5’s Marketplace for Media Makers

BROOKLYN, NY. — March 5th, 2013 — Pond5 Inc. and Pixmac s.r.o. announced today that they have reached a definitive agreement under which Pond5 will acquire the assets of Pixmac, a leading stock imagery network based in the Czech Republic. With millions of stock photos and illustrations distributed in 17 languages and in multiple currencies, the acquisition of Pixmac accelerates Pond5’s strategy to offer a global marketplace where media makers can connect with fellow artists, sell their stock media while earning industry-leading payouts, and license content from the world’s most comprehensive selection of creative elements for use in their own productions.

With the integration of Pixmac, Pond5’s vast selection of stock video footage, audio, images, 3D models, and motion graphics templates will be available globally across the Pixmac network of more than 20 domains, via a multi-language, multi-currency platform. The aggregate traffic across the network will more than double Pond5’s current traffic base. The Pixmac network of local managers and reviewers will also be joining Pond5, further broadening Pond5‘s reach and bringing industry expertise from key global markets in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

“The Pixmac team has built something truly impressive, and we are very excited to be working with them to continue to build out the world’s most vibrant marketplace for media makers,” said Tom Bennett, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pond5. “The talent, technology, and community they bring will be a fantastic addition to Pond5 and a big win for our artists and our buyers.”

“We are proud of what we have achieved so far, and we are excited to see what the integration has in store for our contributors,” said Vita Valka, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Pixmac. “Pond5 has challenged the microstock industry by letting artists price their own content and by providing them the best royalties. They’re the most artist-friendly marketplace around, and that’s the exact model that’s going to win in the long-run. We’re thrilled to be joining forces. ”

Over 6,000 Pixmac photographers and illustrators are expected to join Pond5, bringing with them millions of images which will be available via the Pond5 website. Pixmac artists will get a substantial raise to match their Pond5 counterparts, and will earn 50% royalties on all sales.

Contact:
Jared Van Fleet
Press Relations
+1-917-740-3799
jared@pond5.com

About Pond5
Pond5 is the world’s most vibrant marketplace for media makers, offering the web’s largest collection of royalty-free video footage, as well as millions of stock photos, illustrations, music tracks, sound effects, Adobe After Effects project templates, and 3D models. Disrupting the traditional stock agency model with an open, dynamic marketplace, Pond5 invites media makers from all over the world to submit their own content and set their own prices, earning 50% on each sale – significantly higher than traditional players. Submissions are curated by the Pond5 team, and made available for immediate preview, purchase and download. All content is licensed under a simple royalty-free license that provides customers lifetime, worldwide usage rights across all media.

Pond5 was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Brooklyn, NY, USA with offices in Geneva, Switzerland and Prague, Czech Republic. For more information, visit http://www.pond5.com.

About Pixmac
Pixmac is a global provider of stock imagery, offering millions of stock photographs and illustrations in 17 languages and multiple currencies. Based in the Czech Republic, the site was launched in 2008 and is currently home to an artist community of over 6,000 photographers and illustrators worldwide. Some key Pixmac domains include:

http://www.pixmac.com
http://www.pixmac.com.br
http://www.pixmac.cz
http://www.pixmac.de
http://www.pixmac.es
http://www.pixmac.fi
http://www.pixmac.fr
http://www.pixmac.pl
http://www.pixmac.ru

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Interview with Ilona Filipi: Moove Agency

admin — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:46:40 +0000

Tell us a little bit about your agency?
Moove Agency has been established in the early 2010 and is almost 3 years old now and have 5 team members. We specialise in design & development of websites that run on the WordPress content management system.

We believe that websites should be beautiful in & out so to speak. Just like the Apple philosophy Beautiful on the outside (front-end design), beautiful on the inside (content management system).

Where did you study and how did you find yourself immersed in web design?
The journey was quite long and not really a straight-forward one I’ve been always fascinated by computers. Since an early age I used to attend after-school classes where we were taught about computers and programming. We studied Pascal – a programming language and I suppose that’s where my passion for computing originated from. Later I have enrolled to an electro-computing college where I had classes about electronics alongside programming and computing classes. I also did a certificate level of BSc. Computer Science at the Czech Technical University and then transferred to London to do my BSc. in Multimedia at the London Metropolitan University. It was there that I came across web design for the first time. In fact, London Met was the first school where I had classes about computing alongside classes that were creatively-led. This was a very useful introduction into the world of web design since websites are not just about hard-core technical knowledge. After the university, I worked for one advertising agency in London in a position of graphic/web designer. I stayed there for a year and then left and started to work on my own.

What made you to start a business in London?
I always wanted to work for myself and run a business. In fact, although I always studied programming and did well, I wasn’t looking forward to becoming a programmer in a large company one day. Therefore becoming a freelancer felt completely natural to me.

Were the beginnings in business difficult?
The very beginnings were not very difficult. I had a lot of passion and excitement, didn’t know what is lying ahead of me, wanted big opportunities and challenges. I also started out very carefully. First two years I worked for myself as a freelancer. After leaving my first job I had savings for about three months upfront in case I won’t get any work. The worst case scenario, I figured, would be that if I ran out of money, I would have to get another fulltime job Fortunately, that didn’t happen. During my 2 years of freelancing I have “met” my current business partner Adrian Restantia over the internet We used to work on projects as freelancers together until we decided to “start the real business” – and we founded the digital agency Moove.

It was only then when the real challenges came along. I used to be promoting myself as a freelancer and now I had to promote a digital agency, a business. It was a totally new experience to me and I had to dive into it straight-ahead.

As a freelancer, especially in the digital media industry, you don’t have much problems with finding work (if you are at least average good and based in London). As a digital agency, however, you put yourself in front of a competition of many other digital agencies – with history, experience, connections, English people in the management, etc. The way I see it is that the true challenges are still ahead of us. Our agency is just 3 years old and has three employees except for me and Adrian.

What would you say was the biggest obstacle?
At the beginning, when I used to work as a freelancer, nothing much really. One doesn’t have any special expenses. You can find yourself enough work which you can deliver in your own time and capacity. It’s nothing compared to running an agency. I have to find work for a team of people now – that means that projects has to be bigger, more interesting, turnovers much bigger, one has to depend on people that work for us, has to teach them, lead them. As a company owner I have much more responsibilities and I’m taking much bigger risks.

What role does WordPress play in your work?
WordPress is our big friend. We started to deliver WordPress as a standard content management system to our websites a few years ago. That was driven by client’s demand really. We have just listened to them and now we market ourselves as WordPress experts. I’m quite happy to see that in England there is an interesting trend now emerging. State organisations and non-profits are moving away from expensive custom build content management systems towards WordPress. This is really good news and the fact that we have done quite a few WordPress websites in the past already helps us during pitching process where we compete with big digital agencies.

This year, we’ve developed a few amazing websites on WordPress that are a clear example that one doesn’t need to compromise on front-end when you use WordPress. One is the beautiful Marxent labs website.

and another the unique Chris Kerr.

Which projects are you most proud of?
Currently the above two plus one more that is just close to launch (website where you can download digital datapacks and reports – will be launched in early 2013).

Where do you take the inspiration from?
I personally do not do any design work anymore. But since I love design and it is still me who closes all deals and does our marketing, every day I come across new websites and consult them with my team. Personally, I really like the website siteinspire.net where you can see websites designed in what we call “London style”

And since my long term vision is to grow a successful company, I like to read blogs of successful entrepreneurs. The rest of inspiration comes from the fact that I live and breathe business every day and hence I come across inspirational business people, ideas, projects etc. that help me to learn and grow.

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Vector blueprints for car lettering

Martin Vlčko — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:03:18 +0000

Do you want to put advertising on your company car to make your company really stand out in public? To make sure that your graphic stickers are correctly structured, be sure to use a vector drawing that will help guarantee perfect car lettering accuracy.

Ford


Ford Transit	Ford Mondeo	Ford Focus

More blueprints of Ford

Chevrolet


Chevrolet Tahoe	Chevrolet Camaro	Chevrolet Corvette

More blueprints of Chevrolet

Dodge


Dodge Ram	Dodge Caliber	Dodge Avenger

More blueprints of Dodge

Trucks


MAN TGX	Mercedes Actros	DAF 65/75/85

More blueprints of Trucks

Click here to see the collection 4,669 car blueprints

You can find here vector blueprints of cars, vans, trucks, couches, planes and boats of brands:

Audi, Bmw, Boeing, Bova, Cadillac, Citroën, Dodge, Daewoo, Daf, Daihatsu, Ferrari, Fiat, Ford, Hyundai, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Iris bus, Iveco, Jaguar, Jeep, Kia, Krone, Lancia, Landrover, Man, Mazda, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, MG, Neoplan, Nissan, Opel, Peugeot, Porsche, Proton, Renault, Rover, Saab, Scania, Seat, Setra, Škoda, Smart, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Vauxhall, Volkswagen and Volvo.

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Valentine’s Day inspiration in pictures

Martin Vlčko — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:40:55 +0000

Get inspired by Valentine’s Day pictures

People

more pictures of people

Roses

more pictures of roses

Hearts

more pictures of hearts

Valentine’s Day illustrations (JPG)

more illustrations

Valentine’s card

more Valentine’s cards

Vectors (AI, SVG, EPS)

more vectors

Visit Pixmac.com and find out more Valentine’s Day pictures.

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Catalin Petolea: Shooting full time while enjoying mountain trips!

Lucie Navrátilová — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:37:41 +0000

How did you started with photography?
Somewhere in 2005 I bought a Sony point and shoot and started to play with it. After that I replaced it with a Panasonic FZ20 which had a f/2.8 Leica lens (wow!) still point and shoot but this one was the camera on which I learned most of the technical aspects of photography. After that I realised it’s the moment to get more serious, since it appeared that photography will stick with me for a long while, at least as a hobby. My first DSLR, a 350D also meant my entry into stock photography, in autumn 2007.

What do you personally like to shoot? Stock or art?
It depends on the mood. Some would say that there could be no pleasure in shooting stock (like people isolated on white for instance) but I disagree. In every shooting even if it’s 100% stock-oriented, there are ideas that could mean fun, interesting concepts, new lighting schemes, new approach to a common subject and many other aspects. Of course, stock pays much better than art so for a full-timer like me this reason has a heavy impact.

Where do you spend majority your day?
The busy days – at the computer. Processing, keywording, communicating, marketing. The not so busy days – with my family. We have a great attraction to nature, hiking, anything that means fresh air and activity. We also have a house in the countryside and my wife is a keen gardener so we have our own homegrown fruits and vegetables every year. Living healthy, as one might say.

Is selling stock photos your full-time entertainment?
It’s full time. I am now in my second year since I quit working for others and pursued an enterprise of my own. It’s been great so far, so yea, it’s an entertainment too.

What’s the positive about the current microstock industry?
There is still demand. Arguably, considerably less than supply, but there is. And it will be for a long time. Microstock has become a “de facto” for increasingly more image buyers.

How difficult would it be to launch your own agency?
Insanely difficult. Have a look at Stockfresh. The guys behind it have all the experience with stock agencies that anyone can have and after an year they’re still quiet. I believe to really make it as a new agency you need extremely solid financial backup.

Do you constantly search for new agencies to contribute to?
Not at all. Microstockgroup has all the necessary info for this, and I’m reading it daily. I also get contacted by new agencies every month or so. I try to be very careful where to contribute to.

What are the most important features of an agency for you?
Good commission scheme, good sales (as in – many customers), respect for the authors, easy upload system. My portfolio is over 8000 images, and yet I only have about 450 on iStockphoto, because I can’t stand the cumbersome upload system. So I only upload there about… twice a year or so.

Who are the innovation leaders?
As agencies: iStockphoto for creating the whole thing, Shutterstock for the subscription system and Pond5 for stock video. As photographers: Yuri Arcurs, he definitely marked the way of how successful business and lifestyle imagery will be for microstock.

What do you think about being exclusive?
I don’t think I will ever be. The best place for an exclusive was always iStockphoto, I have very few files there and therefore they make a quite low part of my income. I can’t see any other place where I’d like to be exclusive.

Should we change/improve anything at Pixmac especially for Catalin?
Yes, would be great to promote some more images on the frontpage. And the thumbnails at the bottom of the page are too small.

Does your family inspires your shoots?
Sometimes, yes. Especially in some niches.

What is your dream country?
A country with zero taxes, lowest prices, the most spectacular landscapes, the most beautiful people willing to pose for stock in TFP manner, and twice a month free petrol for any Toyota owner.

Thank you Catalin for such an inspiring talk with someone from similar part of the globe as we are. I hope you’ll enjoy your job more every day and I wish that this microstock positive wave never ends Good luck!

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Shout it out loud! Pixmac can now accept Vector files from contributors

simon — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:20:32 +0000

Shout it out loud! Pixmac is now accepting Vector files from contributing illustrators!

All vectors formats are accepted (EPS(10), AI, and SVG are preferred though).

If you would like to submit vector content, just upload the vector file(s) together with jpg previews with IPTC (where the keywords are stored).
*Please note the vector files and jpg previews need to have the same file names.

All uploaded vector files will be automatically processed via our editing team.

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Check out August’s Winner and Entries for Graphics.com’s Pixmac Design Challenge

simon — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 01:21:11 +0000

Check out the winner of August’s Graphics.com’s Pixmac Design Challenge using a selection of Pixmac images:

To view all the entries click here

To enter the September competition – become a member with our friends at Graphics.com and follow these instructions - you could win a 1 month $199 subscription to Pixmac and a cool T-shirt.

Good luck and let your creative juices swim!

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Check out the Winner of the Pixmac ‘Pinback Button’ Competition!

simon — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:51:01 +0000

Check out the winner of the Pixmac Pinback Button competition…

You can check out the other 86 cool entries here.

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Interview with Natalia Lukiyanova – Microstocker from Russia (and no she doesn’t drink Vodka)

simon — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:57:51 +0000

I’d like to introduce Natalia Lukiyanova from Russia, a fab microstock content producer focusing on illustration.

Tell me a bit about yourself

I am 34 years old, I was born and live in Russia. I – a freelancer, I like that it gives you the freedom, you can plan your own work and leisure. I love to travel, yet not visited very many countries, but is still to come:) I love animals of all – from insects to whales I have two dogs – russian spaniel and basset hound, communicating with them a great pleasure for me.

Tell me a bit about how you became an illustrator – I notice you are both a photographer and an illustrator?

3d graphics I have been doing since 2000. First I created a 3d illustration for fun, then this is a way to make money. I make the architectural visualization projects, interior design, create character animations and clips for TV. Since 2008, I was doing illustrations for microstock.
My portfolio has photos, but I’m still a novice photographer.

What do you like about the way we as an industry sell content for illustrators and what would you change if you could wave a magic wand?

I like the fact that the process of uploading pictures is very simple and convenient, it’s wonderful. To change with the help of a magic wand? I do not know, I like everything

If you had to choose 3 of your favorite illustrations to take with you on a dessert Island – which would you take?

This is my best seller, and it’s one of my first illustrations I saw in action. The designer used it to illustrate the article

This illustration has not sold very well, but I like it

This green man – my favorite. This character I created it in 2006, he participated in the scenes between of advertisement clips. At first he was like a funny animal, he had the ears, eyes, mouth, nose and tail. Then he suffered a few «plastic surgery» and become what you can see it now ))

Where do you see illustration and vector art heading in the market?

I think the illustration and vector art primarily used for print and website design.

What kit do you use?

I use a program 3ds MAX, Adobe Photoshop, now learn Adobe Illustrator. My camera Canon 450D.

What are your 3 favourite rock bands of all time?

I’m not a fan of rock bands. I rarely listen to music, sometimes, when I work on the computer. And it’s usually classical music.

You’re Russian - do you drink Vodka? LOL!

Yes, I am from Russia but I do not drink vodka I do not drink alcohol. In fact, Russian, drinking vodka – it’s a stereotype Not so many Russians drink, no more than in other countries )

Best regards,
Natalia

Simon note: thanks for your time Natalia ! If readers would like to check out her collection – just click here.

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