@Bethea He is a total hobbit. If hobbits were 6'2", beardy and Czech. He probably won't eat it, though. He's only 99% sure of what it is.
This is a commission for a board game company client. I showed you the sketch a couple months ago.
And my process on this piece. I know that when I was learning to digitally paint and somesuch, I relied heavily on seeing others’ processes. So maybe someone will like this. :)
Working on a new piece for my own amusement concerning the three principles of Hapkido.
And they say, from time to time, that all principles are actually aspects of the water principle.
The ol’ artblog has a new face! About a week ago I cashed in on my membership at Press75, and installed and modified their Attache theme. It’s pretty cool – it’s got this built in thingy where the featured image from the post goes in a stack over there on the right. I create the featured images manually, but you don’t have to; they can pull them from any image you’ve got uploaded. It’s actually kind of a fun brain exercise to flex the design muscles to come up with an image to an otherwise words-only kind of post. The art posts really take care of themselves, but dance posts and role-play posts not so much.
This is the first time I’ve changed the theme on this blog ever! I was startled to realize I’d started a blog in September 2009 and … I am still posting in it. I think that’s pretty good. When I first started I didn’t really know anything about WordPress or CSS or anything, and I essentially was just using the free theme as is. Granted, it’s a pretty good theme with really nice, flexible functionality (Piano Black by mono-lab), so a lot of customization wasn’t really called for. I eventually learned out to replace some images, and to change some of the text options. (Techniques learned mostly from modifying Simple Machines Forum themes, which we use at Absit Omen RPG.)
But we’re in modern times now, and I’ve been makin’ websites and donking about with CSS and WordPress plenty, so I embarked on the most arduous of tasks – designing for myself.
I wasn’t actually disatisfied with Piano Black; I really just wanted to try something new to try something new. I rifled through the themes at Press75, looking for functionality first, aesthetics second.
Functionality
Aesthetics
The hard part of all of this was actually trying to decide what I wanted. Back in the day I was limited by what I knew how to do – how can I get close to what I want? But now, it’s more like… I don’t really care what my blog logo looks like. :P
My modifications are mostly about changing color and just a little bit of layout changes, especially in the single view.
Cufon
I’ve been working with Cufon font replacement and I like it. I’ve seen other people doing font replacement a lot better out there, so that’s one of my goals. But WordPress has a neat plug-in that does just about everything for me, so it’s easier than doing it by hand in a regular website.
Lacking
Apparently this theme lacks… pagination at this point. Looking forward to that update…
Working on a brand ‘mascot’ for a board game company and to my perpetual entertainment, their description for the character were very colorful. He’s meant to be a viking (inspired by a dwarf) and must wield a ‘badass tower sheild and not some … buckler’.
It’s a work in progress, and I could make that shield bigger I think…
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Working with a drawing of my dog Lindy. This drawing was done fast - in only a couple minutes – because it was a race against the nap.
“Tim. Quick. Pencil. Paper,” I hissed, keeping as calm as possible. Any rise in energy might have roused Lindy from her awkward slumber.
Lindy sleeps like this most of the time, and that’s not an exaggeration. She twists herself all around, her paws stuck out at four different angles. Either that or crammed in some corner or crevice. She is an awesome dog.
Dance Teachers Shape the Lindy Hop Community : In modern Lindy Hop, most people's entrance into the community is through a class. I think perhaps Back In The Day, you just got out on the floor and learned 'in the wild'. But Nowadays, instructors rule our world.
Good and bad, right? I think h...878 views
Free Steampunk Gears for Photoshop :
Download
A set of 10 free Photoshop custom shapes for any of your fine mechanical construction projects. Ideal for zeppelins, airships, gyroscopes and widgets. These gears are offered gratis, but don't go off trying to sell them.
Or perhaps y...832 views
Potterverse School Uniforms : Absit Omen is getting ready for the TetraWizard Tournament, which for our role-playing site is going to be a massive, probably years-long site-wide plot. It's probably the biggest project we've taken on and one of the things we wanted to sort out as...826 views
:
Illustration
Hand-drawn, digital or vector illustration focusing on character and movement.
Graphic Design
Logos, event and product promotion, apparel and signage.
Web Design
Web design and development-ready .psds, basic HTML, CSS and Wo...801 views
T-Shirt Mod Tutorial: Two Color Hipster Cowel Neck : I think t-shirt modding is one of my favorite craft projects because it's cheap and it really doesn't matter if you mess up - it's a $2.99 XL shirt from the Goodwill. I don't like t-shirt mods that are just a cut-job and you end up with a tattered ga...430 views
Old World Fantasy Map Tutorial : This tutorial takes you through how to create an inked effect for lines for something like a fantasy, or old-timey map. Uses Photoshop and takes advantage of an repeated Photoshop Action. The tutorial shows you how to create the Action, but you can...410 viewsSteampunk Goggles Activate : Oh the days of steampunk. What happened to those simpler times where steam and clockworks powered everything, we were all zeppelin pilots, mechanics and inventors, and daily life for most folks necessitated goggles? (Was it all the alchemical motes ...358 views
Women Leading & Men Following : I've collected some YouTube clips of Lindy Hop partnerships where women are leading, and men are following. Some of them are social clips, others choreographed for competitions, and still others are improvised jam-style competitions. They are all o...320 views
Jack’ing in the J&J : A couple weeks ago, I competed as a lead in a fun little Jack & Jill at the Omaha Jitterbugs' Christmas party. I say 'little' because well, there's probably no friendlier audience and lower stakes than that homey atmosphere surrounded by your home s...312 viewsThe Discussion of Gender in Lindy Hop :
Reflections on Feminism & Follower-focused Events by Gina Helfrich (May 15, 2008)
Building an Inclusive Swing Dance Community by Rik Panganiban (December 20, 2009)
An entry of mine from later this month. I'd forgotten I'd written it: Leads...265 views