You may know that I have taken a lot of interest in creating WordPress themes for the WordPress blogging community. So in part of doing that, I have been searching around the sphere a little bit for other WordPress theme designers. Specifically, I wanted to check out the different flavors of themes that are available.

While you might think it’s silly of me to write a post like this, you might think, “Garry is getting in the business of making themes, so why would he write a post about his competition?” I don’t really look at it this way. For me, making my own WordPress themes is very much a form of creative art. I feel fine talking about other designer’s work while also developing my own work. This isn’t like the make money online niche where everything is cut-throat, sneaky and misleading.

I really like Brian Gardner’s work. I spent about an hour on his site and downloaded quite a few of his free WordPress themes and I am truly impressed with his quality craftsmanship in designing WordPress themes. It was very inspiring visiting his site. In my opinion, designing WordPress themes reflects on your level of creativity. If you have the tools to extract the art that you vision in your mind onto digital paper, you have a WordPress theme.

The tools needed with making WordPress themes are a very good understanding of WordPress code and a fluent understanding of CSS. If you have these two skills, then you can make themes. Really the only fuel that can help make your designs catch on fire is your level of creativity. I think Brian is very talented and has a full fuel tank in the creativity department.

So why would I write a post about Brian Gardner if I am attempting to do the same thing? Simple. Of all the different designers I have visited, I like his work the best. Secondly, even though I too want to start making my own WordPress themes, I still want to provide my readers with resources that I feel will help enhance their blogging experiences.

Brian Gardner’s themes are so good that I actually sat back in my chair for a few minutes and considered using one here on my own personal blog. So I am not going to say that I have serious competition, but I will say that I do feel that I am a very creative individual like Brian, and that my challenge in making themes will be in continuing to expand my knowledge in the tools needed: knowledge of CSS and WordPress functionality. My hat goes off the Brian and his countless hours of hard work and contributions to the WordPress blogging community.