

Makerbook – A directory of free resources for creatives - CraigJBarber
http://makerbook.net

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Nervetattoo
I was dissapointed to find that this site was not about resources for
"making", as in Maker Movement. I was expecting a good library of things like
"How to make an armchair", "How to build your own 3d printer".

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michael_h
I though the same thing, but we kinda-sorta already have that with
[http://www.instructables.com](http://www.instructables.com)

[1] [http://www.instructables.com/id/Ramified-Armchair-bending-
pl...](http://www.instructables.com/id/Ramified-Armchair-bending-plywood/)

[2]
[http://www.instructables.com/howto/3d+printer/](http://www.instructables.com/howto/3d+printer/)

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cwyers
Not free, but the most recent Humble Books Bundle has a bunch of stuff
targeted to the Maker crowd:

[https://www.humblebundle.com/books](https://www.humblebundle.com/books)

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hberg
Neat site!

Bug report: Broken link from the "Tools" sidebar links to this page
[http://makerbook.net/?page_id=292](http://makerbook.net/?page_id=292)

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CraigJBarber
Thanks, yes picked that one up. It is a 'Tools' section which I'm still
working on. Cheers : )

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oska
I have a little bit of a problem with the word 'creatives' used in this way to
describe a category of people (and often as a self-descriptor). It implies
that some people are creative and some people are _not_. Because if everyone
was creative then why use the word? Further, it is talking only about a
supposed quality of a person and not what they actually do. Otherwise it would
be 'creators'. And if you are using these resources, surely it is to actually
do some 'creating'?

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gregpilling
I asked a friend who is a preschool teacher (and became friends when my kid
was in her class for 2 years, 4-5 year olds) if she thought that all children
were creative (regardless of talent), or if she thought that only some kids
were creative and other kids were not really - just doing what they were told.
Her answer was unequivocal - "all kids are creative. Not all are talented, but
they all create"

I love sci-fi, and I was asking her the question because the future utopian
dream is that the 3-D Printing cornucopia machines deliver to humanity all
they want, and the only task left to do is to create. So to me it seems
settled. All people are creative as children and somehow that goes away as
they become adults. I suspect people just adapt to the best way for them to
get by, creative or drudgery, whatever it takes. The modern school system can
probably take some credit, as well as human's normal tendency to adapt to
whatever the herd is doing - ie if all your adult friends stop playing with
LEGO maybe you would too. (I did not stop playing with LEGO)

So I hope all humans are once more makers, and we can stop with silly labels.
I have been making stuff for 40 years+ and it seems odd that the world now has
a word to describe what I was always doing.

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davemel37
Not all are talented?! You mean not everyone's talent is understood and
appreciated :)

Napolean Hill postulates that there are two types of creativity.

1\. One is analytical and is the intuition that comes from turning over a
topic and examining all the angles.

2\. the other is a flash of insight that comes from outside the person.

As someone who considers himself exceptionally creative (but not so humble) I
can tell you that most of my ideas come from seeing a pattern in something and
applying that pattern to whatever I am working on. Most of the universe is
fractals and when you see interesting relationships between random things it
gives you a new way to think about whatever you are considering.

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jameshart
The existence of a directory of sources for 'free color swatches' suggests
that there might be such a thing as 'proprietary' color swatches. I mean, I
know there's Pantone, but are there sites out there in the same vein as these
free resources but which _charge_?

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Jun8
Speaking about maker books, check out the Humble Make Book Bundle:
[https://www.humblebundle.com/books](https://www.humblebundle.com/books). For
$14 you can get 13+ really good books.

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daheza
Nice site, it would be cool to add a section for free 3d model sites.

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CraigJBarber
Thanks for the suggestion. Will look into it : )

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spiritplumber
I like the idea, but it looks like one of those domain squatted spam sites
right now....

"The best sites to get free, high quality $THING" over and over looks a bit...
bot-generated.

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state
As was once told to me:

"The first rule of design is 'use your own material'.

The second rule of design is 'use your own material'.

The third rule of design is 'use your own material'."

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CraigJBarber
Yes, use things like good photography and video, maybe some icons and make
something awesome. It's the ingredients that make a good cake right?

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BrunoJo
Wow, great resources. I really like
[http://www.pexels.com/](http://www.pexels.com/) to find free photos

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CraigJBarber
Yes, Pexels is awesome. Such high quality of photography and video.

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eccstartup
Only a few links there?

