I enjoy seeing good artwork. I love seeing great creativity in action. That's why I like Creative Chaos over at RagamuffinSoul.com. And as much as I'd like to produce something as creative as many of the participants over there, I generally don't. Truth be told, I often cheat at creativity...and in so doing I find that I am just one of the many on the road to producing decent work. Everyone has to start somewhere...

So, I just thought I would share with you all my top spots for creative exploration and learning. After all, being a hopeless creative is no fun! Check 'em out. I frequent each of these often.

I love PSD Tuts...and, if you are serious about learning some great design tips and techniques, go for the subscription. Having the Photoshop files to follow along and work with is key.

Lynda.com is the one-stop-shop for online training for many of the programs used in design, video editing, photo retouching/manipulation, animation and 3D modeling. If you really want to learn the in's and out's of a particular program. Go here... Truth be told, we pay our interns at times to sit at a computer and learn the programs that we often use at Olive Branch.

Andrew Kramer is an After Effects and mograph professional...who rocks! We've used many of his products, ideas and a tutorials when producing animations and videos for our Sunday morning services. The tutorials are free and are a must have in your RSS feed if you are interested in After Effects. The products and simple and great quality...they easily provide you the means necessary to spice up that AE or 3D Studio Max project. Check it out at VideoCopilot.net.

I'm not sure how I first stumbled across Abduzeedo.com, but I enjoy it. The author of the blog is a Brazillian graphic/web designer that has got it going on. I've learned a TON by his free tutorials. Every week he posts his picks for sites of the week and showcases different artists. These alone are enough to check it out. Inspiration abounds at this site.

If you are a cheapskate like I am (my wife makes me be) and are into filming and video work, check out IndyMogul.com. They take shoestring budgets and give you innovative ideas on how to produce normally complex scenes, angles and equipment...all on the cheap. Gotta love that!

Finally, if you love (erm....like or enjoy would also do) Photoshop, then you gotta check out the National Association of Photoshop Professionals... or NAPP for short. I've been a member for nearly two years and I have yet to find one place that truly provides a community of digital creativity like this does. I've been to their conferences, bought their books and spent hours on the forum learning from others. There is a yearly membership fee, but if you like equipment like I do, it will pay for itself. With nearly 17,000 members (I think) you get access to great discounts at many of the places we purchase our gear. For example, a special store with special pricing at Apple.com, free shipping from B&H Photo/Video, software discounts, Office Depot discounts, discounted hotel prices, etc... The membership price is $99/year.... But I just saved $150 on an iMac...so, they owe me! Seriously though, if you are looking for a great place to stretch your legs in Photoshop, check it out. Oh, and you also get a year subscription to Photoshop User magazine...which is the only magazine that I actually look forward to reading front-to-back when it comes. Also, if you are looking for a more well-rounded approach to the Adobe series of products, check out NAPP founder/president Scott Kelby's online training site, www.kelbytraining.com. The provide different online classes ranging in topic from Adobe InCopy to Adobe Illustrator to off-camera lighting setup to Adobe Acrobat. Good stuff, and in my opinion, well worth the money...

I realize that much of this may not have anything to do with you creative pursuits. But, for some of us, it will. These are just a few of the sites I frequent daily in hopes to continually grow in my lacking creativity. There are some great artists out there and many of them offer a ton to learn from.

So, are there any sites I've missed? What would you suggest?