The Innographx Forum (known as “The Inn”) is one of the friendliest, warmest, and most welcoming forums you’re likely to find on the Internet. It’s also one heck of a great place to hang out if you’re interested in learning how to do creative things with Photoshop and other applications.

The Inn has been run by Phyllis Stewart since 2003 as a place to have fun and learn. Probably the most active area is the Photo Challenges. Someone will post a photo, and invite others to modify it, turning it into a work of art. To participate, members download the image, and get to work. Then they post the results back to the forum, with some notes about how they changed the image. It’s fascinating to see how many variations one image can generate! Though they are called “Challenges,” there’s nothing competitive here. You challenge yourself to come up with something creative. You can learn an awful lot this way, reading how others work, pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone. And you can make some wonderful friends in the process. To date, there have been 530 Photo Challenges.

In addition to the Challenges, there is a Technique area, where you’ll find tutorials on retouching, photo art, and design. If you’re struggling with a piece, post it here and members will be happy to offer helpful suggestions.

There’s also a section for Digital Art, which here is defined as art created from scratch, as opposed to manipulating a photograph. The Digital Art Challenges use themes as their starting point. A recent theme was “In the Style of Gustav Klimt,” where members were invited to create a Klimt-esque piece.

There is also an area for members to share their photographs, and an area discussing various tools, such as Photoshop, Painter, and Paint Shop Pro.

The Inn is a place for non-professionals to learn, share, and have fun. It’s one of the finest examples I’ve seen of a forum as a community. Highly recommended.

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