Having fun with my new favorite site
www.PopURLS.com
Lots of fun information in content, video, and photo form. This site has a great little hub started compiling of the interesting articles and posts from all of the other interesting sites. Wow... what an idea... its a website featuring other websites?! How novel... because you know that they are making bank off of it. They dont even really have much to do... I mean sure they could do reviews and articles about the top new, which is already being posted 40 milliong other times, so why not just point everyone in the direction of those other articles and make money in the mean time.
Considering starting one of those "free vector art" sites..., kind of along the same deal as brusheezy, vecteezy, or vectorjungle.
I mean, between the 3-4 of us, and adding some extra adspace, we should be able to turn all of our blogging into some actual cash... we could set up a donate page and seek out advertisers...
Its a thought, I mean heck, with everyone else making tons of money doing iphone apps and other ridiculous websites... I think that the vector design is the best route. We would actually be able to provide our own artwork on there as well, gaining exposure personally as well as using the basic vector packs that are already on all of the other pages.
Just a thought.

Top 50 Sites! Or at least a few of them.

Wow, Top 50 List is out and it is an interesting one....

Found an alternative to Pandora with last.fm
Etsy made the top list, which I know a lot of people I went to school with will appreciate. Even the Gamers love this stuff.
Speaking of games, a great site is OMGPop

I will post more later..
Something interesting was that CraigLook made the list. While craigslist was bashed for having lame graphics. Which actually is something that I admire about craigslist. I think that the simplicity of craigslist actually makes it less intimidating than other sites, and therefor a great tool for an older crowd who are serious about looking for work or to trade, without trying to get all computer savvy.

Google sued

Yahoo and Bing sue Google.

This is going to be interesting. I think that the company buzz around this office was originally that we shouldnt really have any issues with the merger between Yahoo and Bing. But it already seems like they are going to be pulling out the big guns in order to even the playing field. I dont know, with both parties tackling Google, we could essentially have a significant impact. Think about it. What does Yahoo and Bing have to offer individually?

Yahoo still has its name.. No doubt that Yahoo has usually trailed far behind Google, but having Microsoft backing it now can really set it apart.
The fact that Microsoft is so hell bent on being the best at everything else it does, I can only imagine that the Search engine BING will soon catch up to Yahoo and gain notoriety based on Microsoft alone.

Still, BING is relatively unknown, except for most of the computer techy world. Combining the name of Microsoft and the household name of Yahoo, they might actually make a huge dent in the Search World.

We will see how it goes, for now we might need to get in touch with Bing. Does anyone know if they are going to try and favor one domain over the other. I can imagine that Bing would want to push its name more than Yahoos, considering that they are the big investor in the merger. But since the merger is going to be reevaluated in a few years, I wonder how Yahoo is going to be able to bounce back, if they ever decided to leave the marriage.

SEO

Im a cheese, totally into the whole SEO deal lately. metatags and all that crap. I really wish I had enough of an attention span to actually do all of the coding. I seriously cant stand sitting here typing in code, trying to get the bugs all worked out. Ugh. The graphics are fun, but it still gets hard for me to sit in front of the computer and render them. I get pretty annoyed when I have to change the anchor points on vectors. Haha. Ive been the delegated "adobe illustrator" on the team... Probably only because I messed around with it in school, but I know Sam would be just as good with it if he used it more. Oh well, at least I have one thing that Im pretty good at.

Check out this blog... some good info...

District 9 and looking forward to 9 (The movie)

9

Other Fun Sites
BlackBook Stencils
Cardboard Robot

Working on developing a quick website layout for my friend Justin in Chicago. He has a screen printing company called 420 Church Street.

There are some interesting phenomenon starting up on the social networks... I personally was a member of a CCS student art challenge blog. Sadly, it fell to the wayside once we all seemed to get enveloped in career ambitions. I think that these types of sites are necessary to challenge yourself and see what other people create when given the same criteria... Similar to art class homework. Haha.
Back to the main point. CNN.com did a pretty interesting piece about these growing trends with interactive art and preformance websites. One in particular is a collaborative remake of Star Wars in 15 minute segments.

Having said that, I think it is necessary to find people whom you can work with directly and feed off of one another. Its really important to have a creative environment that you can thrive in.

My not so weekly update.

So, here we go, yet again, with my rambling about nothing in particular. I think maybe I should start to get some direction with this blog. But I figure that I cant really keep my head interested in one particular thing for too long, so I should probably just be thankful that I actually post on this at all.
So work gets increasingly silly with the addition of yet more bobble head dolls. They are essential to a creative and productive work environment.
I am a little bummed today. I created a pretty B.A. layout and logo for a local furniture company (at least I think they look good), after getting instruction from one of the co-owners, but was completely shot down on the idea from the other owner. It cracks me up how different opinions can be about the functionality of the site being insanely important, where as the look of it is not as important. Oh well, its just sad that we have the opportunity to really provide a great design and make the site work well, but this guy just isnt interested in it. Oh well. Ill get to use the design on another site.

Meh.

Ive got some contract work coming in, which should be nice, considering I am desperate at this point to get my license and plates updated. Im about to be a serious Oregonian! Haha, it only took me a year to get this all changed over.

The new apartment is going good. Though we still have Mars the Boxer living with us. He will be shipped off to Pennsylvania in mid september and I will be extremely glad to get the carpet steam cleaned and dog free.

Anywho, its lunch time. Later...

Random. Ethics in blogging?

Basically Im in love with Pandora, that is until it cuts me off at 40 hours a month. Im suffering from having to let someone else be in charge of the web department soundtrack. I require at least an hours worth of phil collins and rush a day. Things go downhill if I dont get my Genesis fix.

Found a pretty nifty blog today about ethics.

Worthwhile checking out. Definitely an interesting point.

Its funny to think about ethics when it comes to documenting anything, especially in a society that is so hell bent on having an opinion about everything, and especially as an artist, who relies heavily on criticism to fuel my creativity. It would be great to be able to trust that whoever is blogging has some code of ethics with their criticisms or judgement, but its more than likely that they dont.

In other news, I got the go ahead with the spice monkey website layout. He loved the design and the entire site is ready to go,we are just waiting for new picture of the spices with the logo. Im pretty proud of it, it was really nice to have someone be so excited about my work. I dont get to be too creative here sometimes. There is just so much client work and other random stuff that needs to get done, I tend to delegate most of the creative stuff Id love to be doing, to someone else. This was the case with one of our more recent websites, for Radio Gallery Kent,
www.AntiqueRadioCollectors.com
The idea came out of my head, "Lets make it look like a radio!" Then I got called to work on another local deal and had to hand the design over to Sam. Who is an amazing artist and way better graphic artist than I am, but I am so happy with how it turned out. We really do have a great team here. Check out their sites,
www.SamuelMiller3d.com
www.IamVietnamese.me
As for me, I really need to get my site up and running again, I have a lot of new work for it, but its just been on the back burner for some time now. It is nice to have the opportunity to keep my portfolio growing.

Alrighty, enough rambling.

Thought for the day: Should there be an ethical code for blogging, similar to that of journalists?

The coast this weekend! We were going to go salmon fishing, but we're saving that for the next trip. Im excited! Ill post pictures later.

Vectors

I am really excited to have had the chance to work in After Affects this past week, something that Ive really missed out on since I moved out here and finished school. Its just a few little "How-To" videos.

A few of the guys at the office and I have been discussing the opportunities behind the artwork and basic web layouts that we've created on our own time and the search engine advertising opportunities. It seems like the sites that get the most traffic are those that create communities of artists that are always uploading artwork. We use them all the time. Speaking of these sites.... I think I might ramble a bit.

Its funny how my ideas behind creating artwork have completely done a 360 since I started in this industry. I know that people are usually looking for a specific style, one that is not necessarily my own. Ive become more accustomed to really pulling inspiration from sites that I see and trying to use the ideas with my own flare. Apparently this is a tactic I should have been utilizing through much of school, instead of trying to be as original as possible all of the time. I actually like exploring new styles that Ive seen and making them my own. Its not necessary for me to start from a scratch idea every time. Though I do find it obnoxious when people simply change the anchor points on vector work and claim that it is now their own work.

It is nice that we have had some very interesting clients come into our midst in the last month. One of our clients, Spice Monkey is a guy we've been working with for a while now, but has been struggling to decide on a design. We originally had a lot of fun with the layout of the site and the idea of a monkey, with rich "spicy" colors. This wasnt exactly what he had in mind. Apparently he didnt have the same fun mentality that we did. Well, after a while I finally sat down and sketched out a few logo ideas, because he had never received his original design from a different artist. He decided on the TIKI! Which was super exciting. I had just thrown the idea in there and I honestly thought it was the most random and obscure and was positive he would not choose it. To my surprise I have had the chance to work on it for a few hours today and this is what Ive come up with so far.

We've kind of come to a happy cohesive blend between my obvious cartoony background and Sam's shiny and corporate styles. He has the ability to create things in all different styles, but has definitely mastered the art of the "shiny button" (something that I forced myself to learn.. oh how I hate chrome)Its nice to find someone who I feel comfortable asking for critiques. Haha.


Ive been digging some great vector sites lately. Vecteezy and Vector Jungle The vector jungle one isn't as extensive, but has a few more options when it comes to complete illustrations of humans and characters.





My Linked Profile
I am currently working on the logos for IAMVIETNAMESE.com, Idle Hands Designs, and Spice Monkey, which I have posted.

We are taking over....

Haha, we are taking over, on the internet anyways. I think Im in a very good position. As I start into the "industry/industries" I am getting the opportunity to work on many many different projects.

Personally things are going great.
I have finally completely moved into the apartment on Hawthorne, in an awesome Southeast district. This move is going to be big for me in many ways. I am going to have to rethink my ideas about living with yet another extremely different person. Mind you that Charlie and I were complete opposites in that he doesnt have much of a social disposition, while Jesse is extremely outgoing and forward. He works nights and usually doesnt go to bed until I am leaving for work at 7am. We will see how my sleep schedule keeps up.
The neighborhood is amazing. I am living just 10 blocks down from the entertainment district, filled withb theaters, venues, clubs, shopping, and markets. Its a slightly "urban/trendy" area. Haha, nobody seems to worry if their clothes are matching. But I think it will give me an excuse to get out of the house and walk, no drive. I want to buy a bike, and make it a point to use my sketchbook daily. I feel like this is something I have been neglecting for some time now. The apartment in Milwaukie was a decent size, but my bedroom was extremely small. With me, Charlie, the dog Obie-Wan, and usually Charlies girlfriend, it was way too crowded. I kept finding myself leaving the house just so I could breathe. But I wasnt leaving to places that were going to be creatively stimulating. I think being in walking distance from this community will change things a lot.
My life is changing as usual, pretty rapidly. I love the continuous change, but am also excited to see myself settle into my new home. Im not so afraid of the huge boxer dog, Martian, I tried to walk him yesterday, and he basically dragged me ten blocks instead. But it was fun. Now we just need the weather to get a bit cooler.. ugh 107 degrees!! Things are going good with Nate, a guy I have been seeing lately, who has his head on straight, good job, bills paid, opens my door for me, the works!! Im going to post a bit of work that we have been doing and soon will post some of the personal stuff Ive been playing with, once I get the computer set back up.