Thursday, January 29, 2009

No Time To Be Twenty One



It's my girlfriend's 21st birthday today!

I think this is very cool.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Permanent Art

I've been thinking of getting a tattoo recently. The only real reason I've not gotten one is I've never been able to think of anything sufficiently meaningful that I would want it on my body at all times. Given that I would probably like to draw up the design myself, my next biggest question is... where should i put it?

In other news, the new cover for cerulean rain is done:

Monday, January 26, 2009

Back To The Drawing Board

I got a proper drawing board and chair today! they're both very sturdy and made out of thick tubular steel. pictures to follow shortly!



Saturday, January 24, 2009

You, Too, Can Have A Webcomic.


Today's image brought to you by Superdickery.

Hi everyone. My internet is being naughty at the moment so posts may be a tad thin on the ground. Today I'd like to talk about web comics.

I love web comics. I read about twenty a day, and they're the greatest. They've supplanted a love of reading which I can no longer enjoy as I frankly cannot allow myself the luxury of sitting down and reading a book for hours. Sad. Anyway, I thought to myself that I, too, should be part of this greatness. Honestly though, I don't think I could do it. Why? is it my school-all-week-work-all-weekends schedule? my tendency to go on long, rambling tangents? Nope. Whilst I consider myself reasonably witty and a capable artist, I don't think I could translate that into comic form. My panels would consist of a guy talking at you.

I clearly need a writer, so, here's the plan; send a comment containing descriptions and dialog on this post and i'll draw it for you and put it up here. Who knows, maybe it could become a Thing.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore...


A few days ago I went to a Cash Converters - that's a chain of pawn shops, by the way - and I spotted a beautiful pair of headphones. "brilliant!" I said, and at the princely sum of 12 dollars I bought it.

They're a pair of Rotel RH-700's - which were apparently made in the early to mid seventies. The jack is a large one of the type I associate with professional equipment. I've heard that, due to various esoteric variances in ohms and whatnot, that special care must be taken when using such equipment. Does anyone have any specific information in using these? Is it possible to plug this into a Discman or similar with some sort of adaptor? Would it damage anything?

Thanks, internet!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Coping With Criticism

One of the things most important in working for a client is being able to adapt to their demands of your work. Whilst some clients will give you relatively free rein to interpret a solution, others treat you as more of a magic box meant to realise an idea they already have in their head but cannot express.

Regardless of having carte blanche or a very opinionated client, any work you produce will at some point raise criticism.

I am not very good at accepting and using criticism. I am, in fact, woefully bad. I mostly ignore it. This is unfortunate, because outsider perspectives and critique can be the most useful signposts to direct a design solution. The natural attachment one has to a work can be a powerful force that too often biases the ability to 'take a step back' and see the result.

I've recently been informed that the cover will be re-done as one of the other editors feels, very strongly, that the new landscape cover is not of a high enough caliber. The only appropriate approach to take when such situations occur is philosophical: Such Is Life.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Wherein Constraints Are Considered

I find that the most useful inputs in the making of a design are the restrictions imposed upon it - working within constraints creates inspiration. When this design (no, it's not really a paul frank) was made the colour palette was a maximum of four colours.



Similarly, the Head Editor of Cerulean Rain wanted the entirety of our web art journal to be a single format (that is, either portrait or landscape A4) - which sounds simple enough, but she already loved the previous iteration I had shown her. Thus, the new had to somehow encompass the old.


Whilst it is inevitably a compromise, in some ways, I think it's better than the original.


Lastly, on a musical note, (unintended pun +1) I am suddenly thinking crystal castles is so awesome. For all you Indies out there, hello! I discover things slowly!

Cupcakes!


not much to report today. have a cupcake!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Wherein the Web Is Trawled, Without Success

As a newcomer to the world of web logging (aside from a fairly abysmal and now defunct LiveJournal) i'm still adapting to the peculiarities of the medium, specifically Blogspot.

One thing i've noticed is, paging through various blogs using the 'next blog' tool, all the sites i've found so far have started very recently, as in, start of this year. and, oddly, the greater majority have been in a different language (though trying to puzzle out what some of them are saying is kinda fun.)

Perhaps this is an algorithm used to make sure all the unviewed blogs get their day in the sun? who knows. (no, seriously guys, tell me!) my favorite from this trawl is TypeFaceBook, which shows a lot of promise.

Now, enough text! today's art, in keeping with the black and white girl's photo theme, is of maggie, a lovely girl who can sing beautiful jazz and works as a trainer for the mentally or otherwise disabled in various employment initiatives.



she is looking quite rasta.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Wherein the Weather is Discussed

Cerulean Rain is an online literary journal for which i do the graphic design. That means I do the typesetting, choose the style, set out the order, do the cover art, etc etc.

I joined when the second issue was in development, and we're almost at the third. looking back, I think my style was a bit too cartoony in the last issue but for continuity's sake I won't be changing that until the fourth issue, as I'm redoing the format to landscape - though I do want to keep the title page portrait... and here's why:


Basically, I really like the shot.


In other news, I burnt a cd which just managed to squeeze the Gorillaz Demon Days album in with the Stooges Funhouse. they go rather well together, I think.

Isn't it odd how compact discs are now considered 'oldschool'? this was said to me by some Bright Young Thing, ipod in hand, when I was changing cds for my discman.

I remember thinking the same thing about cassette tapes at his age.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Wherein Both Music and Muses are ...Mused On

Hi guys. I'm listening to demon days - had the cd forever as a gift, only really listening to it now - thought it was bland the first time, now I'm really into it.

Now, some questions for the general audience:


Does anyone have tips with regards to the whole "following" business? how effective is the search function, really?

Most importantly, how do I go about directing people here? what smoke and/or mirrors are required?

Anyway, it's image time:
This is another quick sketch - this time, of my girlfriend. Isn't she lovely?

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Wherein The World Is Saluted.

Hello World! gee golly gosh, and so forth. my name is, at present, Enthused Dork. I feel it describes me well! And this is my Blog.

Within, i plan on completely ignoring the rules of Capitalisation, discuss my latest art/design work, and probably also talk about my latest favorite things on the Internet. And throw rocks at the stuff which peeves me. I may also do comics about stuff in my life. This depends on whether or not my life is funny.

my only rule is i must have one picture per post, minimum - so feel free to accost me if you don't get any eye-candy!

thus, a picture:
her name is Canuck Sally.