I just got word from our publisher that our first image-editing tutorial book by the veritable Meowza is now at the warehouse and on it's way to all major retail stores (and Amazon)! It's beautifully illustrated with Meowza's work and very easy to follow. We are truly proud of having a tangible book in stores that teaches people how to perform photo editing in Aviary (using Phoenix). 
We tried to be as open as possible in writing it, so while we obviously used Aviary for the examples, the techniques described are also useful in general, for other layer-based image editing web apps (and of course, for Photoshop and GIMP users as well)!
Pre-order it on Amazon today!
Great job Meowza!!
Meowza Katz is the Artist in Residence and Chief Awesomelogist at Aviary, Inc. To read more of his discourses on bovine grazing behavior, cyclical tornado patterns and legos, please subscribe to the Aviary blog RSS feed or email newsletter.
Aviary is a powerful suite of browser-based design tools. Want to be as awesome as Meowza? Head on over to the Aviary homepage to try the applications out for free and learn more!
Here's a video demonstration of Aviary icons being made in Raven, Aviary's vector editor, currently in alpha release to Aviary Pro members.
End result:
Roy Lichtenstein - open the layered file!
Matt Groening (creator of the Simpsons and Futurama)
Pablo Picasso
South Park
Andy Warhol
Random Manga artist
Camille Rose Garcia (modern day surrealist)
Nickelodeon
Jackson Pollock
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Meowza Katz is the Artist in Residence and Chief Awesomelogist at Aviary, Inc. To read more of his diatribes on faked moon landings, cheddar cheese and fine leather garments, please subscribe to the Aviary blog RSS feed or email newsletter.
Aviary is a powerful suite of browser-based design tools. Want to be as awesome as Meowza? Head on over to the Aviary homepage to try the applications out for free and learn more!
Our friend Joey Roth has created a marvelous teapot called the Sorapot. It is truly a delight to behold, and Wired Magazine has even included it on their 2008 Holiday Wishlist.
When Joey contacted us about running a contest for the Sorapot we were honored. And while he's had many entries, he received even more requests from people who were unable to enter the contest because they did not have Photoshop on their computers.
Aviary is here to save the day! We are happy to assist the Sorapot Art Contest and provide Aviary software to all those entering to win a free Sorapot. We are also offering prizes to the runners up as well.
To enter:
Create an image inspired by Sorapot
You can get started with this image just by clicking Open in Phoenix
Your image can be a sketch, a painting, a photo collage, a rendering- anything that can be reproduced as a 1024 x 768 JPEG.
The only rule: your image must visually represent Sorapot in some way- the teapot doesn't have to be front and center, nor does it have to be photo-realistic, but it must be there.
International entries are welcome! Joey will ship the winner's Sorapot anywhere in the world, and make sure that it arrives before Christmas
Email your image to contest [at] sorapot.com by Sunday, December 14th.
Grand Prize: A signed, dated, and mirror-polished Sorapot delivered to your door, just in time for Christmas. ($250 Value)
Runner Up Prize: 4 winners will receive a 1-year pro subscription to Aviary. ($99 Value)
PLEASE NOTE: Runner Up Prize is only given to those participants who have entered images using the Aviary Software.
One day Meowza was looking out his window and was inspired to create this awesome design. We thought it would look super sweet on a high quality American Apparel t-shirt. Rumor has it, while wearing this Aviary T-shirt you are protected from any avian air raids.
We only made a few of them, so be among the first to get your limited edition Meowza tshirt!
Only $18 with free shipping within the USA >
We here at Aviary are always excited to let the public in on some of the new features we're growing in the incubator here. You've already met Phoenix, the browser-based image editor, Peacock, our visual effects lab, and we've begun introducing new programs like Raven, the browser-based vector editor, and Toucan, the browser-based Color Swatch editor. Working tirelessly to bring you even more browser-based applications, one of the newer applications we're excited to finally release on Thanksgiving is Aviary's Turkey, the browser-based web browser.
Simply open up your internet browser of choice, go to Aviary, then press the Turkey launch button to open up your internet browser right there in your browser!
At Aviary, we're always looking to break new ground and shatter what the world's preconceived notions of what can be accomplished online. And we believe we're doing just that with Turkey, the Internet's first browser-based web browser.
And with popular features now necessary in web browsing such as tabbed browsing, surfing your favorite web pages has never been easier or more efficient!
With Aviary's Turkey, anyone with a browser and an internet connection can now browse the internet.
Just one of the wonderful things we're working on, here at Aviary!
Editor's Note: This was actually an April Fool's joke concept that made the cutting room floor originally, but looking back on it we laughed and had to share it, so why not around Thanksgiving? For early access to the more useful (and real) Aviary tools, head on over to the Aviary main site.
Edit: April 1st is actually celebrated during Thanksgiving in Canada, so this is a perfectly acceptable blog post, thank you very much.
Editor's Note: Staff investigator Meowza Katz presents an ongoing investigation into the E! True Hollywood story behind the colorful cast of Aviary. We now present to you the second chapter in an ongoing series entitled, Behind the Nest.. In tonight's special chapter, fame goes to Phoenix' head. What will happen to the flock?!? 
Previous Chapters: Part 1
Why, hello there! Aren't you looking fine this evening? May I pour you a tall glass of fine champagne? Why, you ask?
Oh, you hadn't heard? Aviary hatched!
We've officially released four awesome design apps, a new Firefox extension for easy screen capture, 60+ new tutorials, and best of all we've completely overhauled our website design to make it easier for collaboration to happen.
We've also finally landed our branding, as you should note we are now located at Aviary.com (no more a.viary.com). We feel less web2.0 now, but trust us, that's a very good thing.
Going forwards we're going to keep the exact changes we make (just about every Wednesday) in a specific list of release notes in our announcement forum.
If you want more up-to-date release notes, please check our Announcements forum or subscribe to the announcement RSS feed.
A special thanks to the following sites and fine feathered friends for the great coverage and reviews!
photojojo readwriteweb mashable cnet zdnet fayerwayer centernetworks
Congrats to everybody on the team and the awesome Aviary community! We can't wait to see what awesome things you all will make!
With the recent Presidential election, the American public has shown that they're ready for change. President-elect, Barack Obama, had spent his entire campaign promising these so-called changes. I guess, in a sense, he was saying we are entering the beginning phase of America 2.0.
The first step in the re-building process would be to start the country fresh with a new logo. As a nation, how are we to attract new, prospective citizens with the current one?
First off, there are, like, a hundred stars, which just mucks up the entire design off the bat. And what's with the dark, dreary, colors? When was this thing designed? 1992?
And the sharp corners? Everyone knows rounded corners are a lot more inviting to click-through, and that's what we want from a passerby who happens to come across America.
What better way to start re-branding the country than with a fresh new logo?
The economical crisis facing the nation is probably due to design, as well. I mean, who would put any value on such a horribly designed piece of currency?
First of all, it's just busy as hell, with "1"s plastered on every square inch of the thing, and signatures of everyone and their grandmother scrawled across the bottom. And who in their right mind thought that seaweed green would be an appealing color of choice?
This just will not do.
So let's revamp the nation's currency to get this economy rolling again.
I can hear the economy growing already. With our economy back on the right track, we'll be able to focus back on the real issues.
And that is, re-shaping America.
Well, I propose we start the process with the squarest states, such as Colorado and Wyoming.
And simply re-shape them to suit the new America.
And the final step would be to transform all of the national landmarks to suit the new country's brand, as well.
The first to go would be the Hollywood sign.
And re-create it using the friendlier, softer, more popular "today" font, VAG Rounded.
I believe America is ready for change. Change is nothing to fear. After all, the country was built on change. It's as American as baseball.
Besides, a country can't be held accountable for it's actions and behavior. As long as we remain in beta.
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Meowza Katz is the Artist in Residence and Chief Awesomelogist at Aviary, Inc. To read more of his discourses on comparative literature, leather tanning techniques and pre-Mayan civilizations, please subscribe to the Aviary blog RSS feed or email newsletter.
Aviary is a powerful suite of browser-based design tools. Want to be as awesome as Meowza? Head on over to the Aviary homepage to try the applications out for free and learn more!
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Aviary is a powerful suite of browser-based design tools for people who create. Head on over to the Aviary homepage to try the applications out and learn more. It's free to try our tools or sign up!
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