::Cheery Dreary::

Adobé (awesome)

2012-01-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

CSS in CSS

2011-11-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

Another code story! But this time it's actually music lyrics. I decided to envision what the song "Music is My Hot Hot Sex" by the band CSS (Cansei der Ser Sexy) might look like in CSS.

Here's my interpretation:

@charset "utf-8";

body #drugs .music {
      font-weight: bolder; !important
}
body #junks .music {
      font-weight: bolder; !important
}
body #boys .music {
      font-weight: bolder; !important
}
body #ladies .music {
      font-weight: bolder; !important
}
.music {
      background:url(boyfriend.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(girlfriend.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(deadEnd.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(imaginaryFriend.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(brother.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(greatGranddaughter.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(sister.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(favoriteMistress.jpg);
}

table #shit .music {
      display:block;
      background-color:#FF0000;
      font-weight:bold;
}
table #jobs .music {
      display:block;
      background-color:#FF0000;
      font-weight:bold;
}
table #drinks .music {
      display:block;
      background-color:#FF0000;
      font-weight:bold;
}
table #bitches .music {
      display:block;
      background-color:#FF0000;
      font-weight:bold;
}
.music {
      background:url(beachHouse.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(homeTown.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(kingsizeBed.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(meetMyFriends.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(hotHotBath.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(hothotSex.jpg);
}
.music {
      background:url(backRub.jpg);
}
.music a:link {
      font-weight: bold;
      text-decoration: blink; !important
}

The original lyrics for the portion I've converted above, for your reference, is here:

From all the drugs the one i like more is music
From all the
junks the one i need more is music
From all the boys the
one i take home is music
From all the ladies the one i kiss
is music .. muach!

Music is my boyfriend
Music is my girlfriend
Music is my dead end
Music’s my imaginary friend
Music is my brother
Music is my great-grand-daughter
Music is my sister
Music is my favorite mistress

From all the shit the one I gotta buy is music
From all the jobs the one i choose is music
From all the drinks i get drunk off music
From all the bitches the one I wannabe is music

Music is my beach house
Music is my hometown
Music is my king size bed
Music’s where I meet my friends
Music is my hot hot bath
Music is my hot hot sex
Music is my back rub
My music is where I’d like you to touch

ActionScript Hero

2011-10-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

I'm actually looking up to this guy.

Code Story: Three Blind Mice

2011-10-12T15:46:00.001-07:00

For today's geeky story time I present the tale of THREE BLIND MICE (as told in AS3). But first, here's the original tale (tail!) as a recap:

Three blind mice, three blind mice
see how they run, see how they run
they all ran after the farmer's wife
who cut off their tails with a carving knife.
Did you ever see such a thing in your life
as three blind mice?

And now dramatically interpreted in code:

import com.characters.FieldMouse; 
import com.characters.FarmersWife;

var mice:Array = new Array();

var farmersWife_mc:FarmersWife = new FarmersWife();
addChild(farmersWife_mc);

FarmersWife.run = function():void
{
      //trace("running");
}

FieldMouse.run = function()
{
      trace("running");
}

for(var i:int=0; i < 3; i++)

{

      var theMouse:FieldMouse = new FieldMouse();

      var tail:MovieClip = new MovieClip();

      theMouse.addChild(tail); 

      theMouse.vision = false;

      mice.push(theMouse);

}

function cut(event:MouseEvent)

{

      while(var j:int=0 < mice.length)

      {

            carvingKnife(mice[j]);

            j++;

      }

      farmersWife_mc.removeEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER);

} 

function carvingKnife(mouse:MovieClip)

{

      mouse.removeChild(tail_mc);

}

farmersWife_mc.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER, cut);

farmersWife_mc.run();

while(var k:int=0 < mice.length)

{

      Mice[j].run();

      k++;

}

Here's what it looks like in Flash (if that's easier for you to read):

And here it is with some explanations:

Another example of what happens when you go on vacation

2011-09-11T01:09:00.000-07:00

What happens when you go away...

2011-09-09T12:20:00.001-07:00

Tin foil. On everything!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (in AS3)

2011-08-07T00:03:00.000-07:00

var maiden:Princess = new Princess();
var queen:Villain = new Villain();

var cabinDwellers:Array = new Array();

maiden.skin = 0xFFFFFF;
maiden.hair = 0x000000;
maiden.kryptonite = apple;
maiden.energy = 100;
maiden.living = true;
maiden.mode = "wishing and hoping";

var hagMode:Boolean = false;

queen.happy = true;
queen.appearance = hagMode;

var fairest:Boolean;
var initial:Boolean = true;

function checkFairest():Boolean
{
if(maiden.living == true)
{
fairest = false;
} else {
fairest = true;
}
return fairest;
}

function checkMirror():Void
{
var mirrorAnswer:Boolean = checkFairest();

if(fairest == true)
{
queen.happy = true;
if(hagMode == true)
{
hagMode = false;
}
} else {
queen.happy = false;

if(initial)
{
var hunter:Weapon = new Weapon();
killMaiden(hunter);
initial = false;
} else {
hagMode = true;
queen.appearance = hagMode;
var apple:Weapon = new Weapon();
killMaiden(apple);
}
}
}

function killMaiden(method:Weapon):Void
{
if(method != maiden.kryptonite)
{
maiden.direction("into the woods");
for(i:int = 0; i < 7; i++)
{
var dwarf:Dwarf = new Dwarf();
cabinDwellers.push(dwarf);
}
sendToWork(cabinDwellers);
checkMirror();
} else {
if(cabinDwellers.length <= 0)
{
maiden.energy = 0;
maiden.living = true;
maiden.mode = "waiting for the one she loves";
}
}

}

function sendToWork(workers:Array):Void
{
for(i:int = 0; i < workers.length; i++)
{
worker:Dwarf = workers.pop();
worker.whistling = true;
}
}

checkMirror();

Code haikus

2011-07-05T00:59:00.001-07:00

Inspired by ThinkGeek's request for geeky haikus - I wrote up this guy:

Noob error alert!
You forgot the instance name.
Null object reference!!

Code Stories

2010-03-04T01:12:00.000-08:00

$imagination;
if (!isset($imagination)) {
$fantasia--;
$childlikeEmpress = "reads story";
} else {
$childlikeEmpress = $newName;
$fantasia++;
$imagination = "FTW";
}

if ($childlikeEmpress == "reads story") {
unset($imagination);
}

An Email Conversation Between Two Geeks

2010-01-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

I present an email conversation between myself and my boss:

From: Boss
Subject: Question
Hey, I just got an e-mail from our legal team. It raised a question. Why can't our profession have a cool suffix to our name like Esquire? How cool would it be if I could have a prefix like Prof, but Mstr (webmaster)?

From: Erin
Subject: Re: Question
Genius!

OK let's figure this out.... according to the wikipedia "Esquire" defines either one of "gentle birth" (one step above a gentleman) or in the U.S., a lawyer. It was derived from "squires" who assisted "knights".

So a modern-day knight would be an ... officer of the law? So an esquire assists the officers of the law.

We (web designers) basically assist marketing and advertising. Which in the days of yore would have been what? I'm picturing the medicine show men.. you know the ones that sold "snake oil" and stuff like that. When I pull that up in the Wikipedia I get an entry for con men. Ha! And a con man's assistant is a "shill".

Erin Lillis, Shill

Or a peddler. And a peddler's assistant is an ass.

From: Boss
Subject: Re: Re: Question

So we assist in cons....well it IS the internet. I have no argument worth any merit to refute it. so Boss McBosserson, Shill it is! But to make it more prestigious sounding let's make it SHL.

From: Erin
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Question

Or we could go with the whole "master of our domain" thing and go with Emperor.

Erin Lillis, Empr

From: Boss
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Question

I like Supreme Commander

From: Erin
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Question

Or Dark Lord

From: Boss
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Question

You always go dark don't you?

From: Erin
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Question

It's my natural inclination to be vampiric.

Erin Lillis, DrkLrd

From: Boss
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Question

Congratulations! You managed to use "natural" and "vampiric" together in a sentence. Not easily done

'Tis the Season!

2009-12-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

'Tis the Season to put holiday hats on your logos!

I've spotted a few seasonal logo treatments in the wild but I've noticed (while investigating for this post) that MAJOR brand sites (like Amazon, eBay, Overstock.com, etc.) don't touch their logos. They'll add seasonal holiday graphics (e.g. snowflakes, ribbons, etc.) but they leave their logo alone.

Some samples from sites I visit:

Of course the granddaddy of all logos (logotypes) that can/have been "treated" is the Google logo. But their ever changing treatments are now a part of their "brand" so I guess that means they can get away with it without any negative affect. (I don't know what the negative affect would be ... it might simply be the affect of "it is annoying to change all the graphics on a website that is in full 24 hour operation".)

10 tees for web designers and programmers (and other geeks too)

2009-10-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

At work my boss and I have been shouting out funny t-shirt phrases (that only we seem to understand) over the top of our half-cube. For communal joy, I now present a select 10 of these t-shirts for web designers and programmers:

Oh Crop

Give me a break

There's no place like 127.0.0.1

Shift happens!!1

I'm away from my computer

Body tags

No Comment

i > u

Think Globally. Act within local variable scope.

ASCII a stupid question, get a stupid ANSI

Contracts for Dummies

2009-08-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Today I found another great resource for "Designers Who Hate Contracts" - it's an eBook explaining things like copyright and "work-for-hire" and includes a basic contract sample that you can revise for your own projects.

Thanks crowdSpring for producing this document!

LINK

Checking for Trademarks

2009-08-23T18:25:00.001-07:00

I have a gig tomorrow that will require me to come up with ideas for product names and then check to see if they are already trademarked or used in the United States. To give myself a head start I've just looked up how to check for pre-registered marks and names.

Step 1) Google it! The more popular results are likely to come up first.

Step 2) Bing it! Or Cluuz it! Or [insert your second favorite search engine here]. Using a second search engine is like getting a second opinion or an alternate point of view that might lead you somewhere you hadn't thought of looking before. I just found Cluuz.com and it's interesting because it's providing me with the type of business a site represents and shows their primary images and logos. This is helpful in this kind of search.

Step 3) Search the U.S. Copyright office here: http://cocatalog.loc.gov If you haven't found anything that is competing with your idea yet you can try searching here. This seems to only turn up articles and written works though. And since not all published works are required to be registered, you still might turn up nothing.

Step 4) Search TESS! (The Trademark Electronic Search System) This will show records of active and inactive trademark registrations and applications.

The purpose of this searching is to find out whether or not you can register your mark/name for a trademark. You’re searching for marks where "if the examining attorney determines that a “likelihood of confusion” exists" there might be a problem.

First you want to see if there is a mark similar to yours and then whether it is used on related products or services that are like yours. Identical marks could be OK if they’re used on completely different products (i.e. a soda and a computer). Be thorough in your search. Your application for a trademark could still be denied if you don’t find exact matches.

Auto Tuning the Home Page

2009-08-21T00:25:00.001-07:00

Auto Tuning from Casey Donahue on Vimeo.

There's nothing better then geeking out with music.

9 (Not to be confused with Nine or District 9)

2009-08-11T00:58:00.000-07:00

9, coming out on 9-9-9, is something I've been anticipating. Especially the movie site because I figured it would be something along the lines of the awesome Coraline site. But while it has some interesting marketing gimmicks, the site as a whole is leaving a little to be desired. Well let me step back, the ACTUAL SITE is just a section on the FILM IN FOCUS site (Focus Features?). They've done it a little blog/profile page style with some videos and ad space.

The interesting stuff is the "Before the movie takes place" scenario stuff around the Internet. For example, you can "Join the Rebels" on Twitter and you can "Meet the Scientist" on Facebook. I find it interesting that these tactics really haven't changed, they've just changed location. Years ago I signed up to receive updates from the movie LOST SOULS (starring Winona Ryder and Ben Chaplin). At the time those updates came in the form of an e-mail or several from "Maya Larkin" (Winona Ryder's character) telling those of us on the list that the end was near. The Scientist is saying the same thing on his Facebook page. And I kinda want something more since it's all a rehash of the same ol' smart machines take over the world thing.

The "something more" comes from the 9experiment.com site and the "talisman" site. The intention of the former is to be like an exploration of The Scientist's lab ... it feels a bit like I'm playing Myst or BioShock though it's narrated and introduced by Elijah Wood (as himself).

There are a couple of things that take me out of the experience of the site. The first is the poor color contrast on the bottom menu - I can't read the navigation callouts.

Another is the diagrams and things that I'm supposed to interact with but I can't really see clearly. That is IF I'm supposed to be seeing something important at all.

The Scientist's book is full of backstory and thus an interesting read for prior to the movie viewing but little things like this annoy me:

I'm NOT LISTENING!! I'm READING!! Eek!

But other than the pet peevy stuff, there is some interesting propaganda art on the site.

Then we go to the Talisman site. I think the idea is interesting... being "The world is ending so let's make a time capsule of memories" sort of thing. But implemenation is a little odd. All I really seem to be able to do is upload pictures and then comment on them. Then they do that "fun" thing where I zoom into my picture and it is seemingly made up of more of my pictures like a photo mosaic. Ok...... 10 bucks says this Talisman isn't going to be on the web long enough to really be a time capsule anyway.

Plus my internet is lame so every time I get loaders of doom I get annoyed.

The site ambience is good though. I've had it on in the background for an hour or more and it hasn't bugged me once.

Another interesting promotional gimmick is the 9 bar code posters. Apparently if you see these around, download an app for your smart phone (if you've got one) and then "scan" these with your phone camera - you can unlock some video content. This is cool though unfortunately something that proves we Americans are behind the times technologically. In Japan you can scan your phone on a vending machine for a Coke! Let's catch up with that!

Here's some video about that 9 code:

Overall I grade the 9 site (and I'm counting the 9Experiment.com site as THE site) at about a B. Better than many but not as clean as things like Coraline or as immersive as the District 9 experience.

Agreements and Contracts?

2009-08-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know what I'm doing - I'll be honest. One learns to put stipulations into one's agreements when one gets burned by a client. And then one's list of stipulations becomes longer and longer. I went looking for some sort of standardized design agreement contract and the one I found was on AIGA's site. It's 56 pages long - that's a lot of burn!

For you - here's AIGA's Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services: LINK

Also helpful is this book: Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines (This is the 2007 edition - they're probably due for a new edition soon.) This book contains some general prices you should charge and sample contracts. For more info about the guild and the book click here: LINK

EIN

2009-08-03T14:57:00.001-07:00

For further info - turns out you only need an EIN if you have employees. If you're only you working for yourself then you have no need for an EIN.

Los Angeles City + Freelance Web Person = Business License

2009-07-21T01:53:00.001-07:00

After I was 1099ed for some work that I did as an "employee" (not as a contract worker) in 2006 I was challenged by the city of Los Angeles for not registering as a business and paying special business fees. This was all ridiculousness, really, as I was an "employee" and working in Long Beach at the time. However the city, needing money, was going after people like me. In the end, paying their fees was easier than contesting the charge. I shook my fist at the clouds and vowed never to work for a 1099 again!!

But now that I've graduated I realize that freelance work is inevitably going to come my way as a web designer and developer and it will be simply easier to get 1099ed than to be hired as an employee for short duration projects.

Thus my quest to file for a business license begins!

Well let me tell you - it is NOT easy to figure out the gibberish the city puts out there on the web as "information"! So to make things easier for others I'm going to list the steps that I've figured out so far (and I'm not an expert so I can't promise you that this is the 100% correct way to do things!!). (Special thanks go out to my accountant friend Marci and my law student friend Adrea for assisting on this quest. If you need an accountant or a law student - send me a message and I'll connect you if I can.)

1) If you're a freelance web designer in the CITY of LOS ANGELES (not the COUNTY but the CITY) you will need a business license.

2) If you're in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles - you have different rules - the below list applies only to the people in the CITY of LOS ANGELES.

3) If you are operating as yourself - you will be a "sole proprietorship" or an "individual." If you want to operate under a name that is not yourself (for example, "Erin Is So Cool Company"), you will need to file a Fictitious Business Name Statement (a.k.a. "DBA") (find the form here: FORM LINK). Do a nice internet search to find a company that will handle the form, the filing and the publication because Fictitious Business Name statements need to be published in a newspaper for 4 consecutive weeks and then proof of that publishing needs to be sent to the county clerk. This gives any existing companies operating under that name time to say, "Oh hell no! We already own "Erin Is So Cool Company" and you can't have it." You can also avoid that possibility by searching for existing filings of the name you want (in Los Angeles County) at this search page: SEARCH LINK. Here's another shortcut for you - the Santa Monica Daily Press will handle the form, filing and publishing. They're a one stop shop. You can read their "DBA" policies here: Santa Monica Daily Press Link

4) Next you can apply on a Federal level (with the IRS) for an EIN (Employer Identification Number) - something you'd use instead of your own Social Security Number. The IRS has an online system (that operates only during business hours) where you can answer some questions and get an EIN right away: IRS EIN Page

5) Once that is done, or if you're just going to operate as yourself, you can now move on to getting the actual business license. Here's the funny thing though - it's actually not called a "business license" form or anything that might make sense like that. What you'll actually need now is a "Business Tax Application". You can find that form at the Office of Finance page here: FORM LINK. (See STEP 6 for info about the "Primary Business/Professional Activity Code".) If you want to know WHY you're filling out that form the gist is - if you're making money, you have to register to pay the taxes. You can either print that form in and mail it, email it or print it out and take it into a branch office. (Call 311 to connect with the city and find out where your branch office is.) Once you submit it, they'll get back to you with an "account number". (More information about this business tax registration can be found here: INFO LINK)

6) ON THAT FORM you'll see a line that says "Primary Business/Professional Activity Code". The full list of business codes is on THIS PAGE. Near as I can figure, the code you'll need for that part (if you're doing freelance web design) is 541400 which reads "541400 Specialized design services (including interior, industrial, graphic, & fashion design." You can also try "541510 Computer systems design & related services." Or maybe "541990 All other professional, scientific, & technical services". Your guess is as good as mine!

7) Exemptions! You can't have them until AFTER you're registered to pay taxes and the city sends you a renewal form. But here are some:

A) New Business Exemption!
A business that establishes a new fixed location within the City and is not owned, in whole or in part, by a person that was engaged in business in the City in the immediately preceding tax year, shall be exempt from the applicable minimum tax for its first tax year of operation.

B) If you make less than $100,000 a year (which you probably will unless you're an AMAZING freelance web designer) you can file to be exempt from taxes as a small business.
Small Business. No tax is required to be paid under this Article by any Small Business. A Small Business shall mean any person whose total taxable and nontaxable gross receipts from within and without the City do not exceed $50,000.00. The $50,000.00 amount shall be increased to $100,000.00 on July 1, 2006.

C) Multimedia and Entertainment Exemption - Near as I can figure (and I could be wrong here) if you're in either the "Hollywood Redevelopment" or "North Hollywood Redevelopment" areas you may qualify for an additional exemption for being a person in the multimedia or entertainment business. This "Eligibility Questionnaire" definitely suggests that a web designer qualifies though you'll need your account number from the Business Tax Registration before you fill this out. (The info about Hollywood and North Hollywood comes from "SEC. 21.27. ENTERTAINMENT AND MULTIMEDIA BUSINESS TAX LIMITATIONS" in the Los Angeles Municipal Code and THIS PAGE on the Office of Finance site.)

D) You can also apply to be exempt if you're a "Creative Artist" that makes less than $300,000 per year. The "Entertainment Creative Talent FAQ" is located here: FAQ LINK. According to the city's legal paperwork, a creative artist is someone who performs "Creative Activities" -- here's there lingo:

Creative Activities shall mean activities performed by Creative Artists primarily for entertainment and/or aesthetic purposes, including assistants or professional trainees performing those same Creative Activities, in the following professions:

1. The following professions to the extent they are directly involved with motion picture, radio or television productions, commercials, multi-media or recorded or live music or theater:

- Actor or announcer; or

- Art director, costume designer, production designer, scenery or set designer; or

- Choreographer; or

- Cinematographer; or

- Conductor of bands, chorales, orchestras, and other musical groups; or

- Director; or

- Motion picture editor, sound dubbing, special effects, or titling artist; or

- Writer (where the writing is the writer's own creative work, but not writing that is compilation, documentation or description of a non-artistic nature, such as technical writing, the writing of technical or scientific reports, etc.); or

- Music or lyrics arranger, composer or writer; or

2. Author of books, essays, poems or short stories; or

3. Cartoon artist, including animated media; or

4. Creator of visual fine arts, using artist's materials (i.e., lithographer, painter, sculptor, or the equivalent); or

5. Drawing, graphic, illustration or sketch artist; or

6. Performing artist, including comedian, dancer, impersonator, juggler, magician, mime, musician, or singer; or

7. Photographer, to the extent the photography is primarily artistic in nature and not primarily journalistic or commercial.

Now I've done things a little ass backwards but have tried to order them properly for you. If you're REALLY getting into setting yourself up as a business (rather than a person who occasionally accepts money for web design) then this kit, which goes through the small business set up steps in detail, should really help you out: The StartUp L.A. Kit for Entrepreneurs

Good luck!

Neglected Keystrokes

2009-07-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

Too funny not to share:

Valedictorian Address - Art Institute of California - Los Angeles 2009

2009-06-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

For those of you who missed it - this is the text of my speech:

Good afternoon Art Institute of California-Los Angeles graduates, faculty and staff. Also thanks for coming parents, siblings, friends and any and all random stragglers who showed up for the light dessert reception.

Ai Graduates - we’re here today because we got through it! Family and friends – you’re here because you watched us go through it and are amazed we’re here today.

A while ago we students were in a “big room” being introduced to AI’s leaders at an orientation meeting. Then we wandered hallways (or the same hallway over and over again) looking for room numbers that made no sense. We put on our student uniforms, whether it be the culinary whites or the non-culinary hoodies and jeans, rolled our giant new student kits around to cold rooms and began the study of our future trades.

At the Art Institute our lives were very strictly planned. Having previously attended a traditional 4 year college I could immediately feel the difference in method and appreciate its design. As I see it our education here was divided into 3 sections – the Elements, the Structures and the Possibilities.

The Elements are what we learned in our first year. Our Theory and Fundamentals classes. For some of us these were classes about color, design, photography, computer basics and software specific classes. For others of us these were classes in listening, history, theory, business, sanitation and safety. During this time we often struggled with our limitations – looking up to our upper classmen, the pictures of alumni on the walls, the framed projects in the hallways, the Best of Quarter meetings, video screenings and Portfolio shows – and we wondered, “Am I ever going to learn how to do that? Will I be that good when I get there?”

And when our eyes were really beginning to open and our creativity really expanding – they started us in the study of the Structure. WHAT A SMACK IN THE FACE! Here we were with our new set of tools and skills ready to tackle the projects in our imagination and Ai said, “Nope. Not yet.”

This was about the time of our 4th Quarter Reviews and when things started to get hard. And that’s about the time when we lost many of our classmates. Some refused to be tethered and went their own ways. Others realized that it just wasn’t their time yet or that they didn’t enjoy it and they moved on. The rest of us strapped in and rode the emotional roller coaster of Structure.

For my major, Interactive Media Design, structure came in the form of Design Documents, wireframes, sitemaps, moodboards and code. For others, structure looked like storyboards, scripts, blueprints, architectural drafting, lighting, rigging, recipes, diagrams, time codes, budgeting, business planning, modeling, prototyping, design patterns and more.

The Ai instructors said, “Hey wait. We gave you that clay and you can do anything you want with it. But take a step back and look. If you build a frame out of wire first and THEN apply that clay look at how much more amazing your sculpture will be!” So we did. And sometimes our creations were amazing and other times we realized our structures were weak and we had to start again. And we did. And we’re the better for it.

And then they reintroduced the Possibilities.

When our admission reps first took us on our tours of the school they told us about the programs Ai offered and they gave us examples of the kinds of careers we could have. While we learned the Elements we were still dreaming big. When we began learning the Structures our visions became a little more short sighted. We needed to know what we could do today to get those assignments done by tomorrow. What prerequisites did we need to fulfill in order to get a specific class in by a certain quarter. And we got a little too serious and a little too focused on the here and now. And again Ai said, “Hey wait! Remember those big open eyes you had at the beginning? Open them up again.”

In our final time at Ai we began to learn about taking our elemental knowledge and our structured technique and applying it to an array of different possibilities. Whether it be different cultural foods, different styles of storytelling, different interactive or printed mediums, or different ways to market ourselves to employers – we learned that we had options and that our options weren’t limited. Anything is possible.

Now that we’ve reached the end of our time at Ai – we are in THAT mindset. Some of us have more of an idea about what we want to do. Some of us are already doing what we want to do. The rest of us know that we have the ability to adapt to whatever opportunities arise because we have the tools.

And now that we’re graduating, the state of the world economy is a little scary right now and the thought of going out and getting a job in this environment is stressful. But remember that we, in particular, have an advantage. We are all artists and entertainers and entertainment is what is most needed in times of trouble.

The world is changing before us and what it needs most now is our vision. This time will be remembered in the future by the way it was shaped by us. Whether it be through the stories we tell on screens of various sizes, the characters we create to entertain others, the environments we build or the comfort we cook up – in the future this time will be remembered by all of our possible contributions.

Emily Dickinson, another artist, wrote a poem (which I shall now read):

I dwell in Possibility--
A fairer House than Prose--
More numerous of Windows--
Superior--for Doors--
Of Chambers as the Cedars--
Impregnable of Eye--
And for an Everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky--
Of Visitors--the fairest--
For Occupation--This--
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise—

As we prepare to move out into the world I urge all of the Art Institute 2009 graduates to thank your family, friends, Ai staff and instructors for supporting you through the methodical instruction and the emotional ride that you’ve just been on.

Know the elements. Use the structure. And dwell in the possibilities.

Congratulations graduates.

Free business cards for life?

2009-06-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

OvernightPrints.com is having a design contest - design this guy's card and if he picks it then you win free business cards for life!

http://www.overnightprints.com/businesscards-for-life-contest.shtml?&adt=319010

I wonder if that offer translates to cards that you would design for clients. (Probably not... just thinking out loud.) (Er... thinking in writing?)

Supercross

2009-04-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

The first time I saw this image the background of the poster was different. Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner were in the same pose but the background was blue sky and clouds (I think with some of the ghostly girlfriends back there too). But in THAT arrangement and with McConaughey's blue suit and red scarf flowing backward... it REALLY REALLY looked like they were trying to allude to Superman. Were they saying with their design that the character was a "super man"? If so, I found it effective. Now, that's what I immediately see when I see the art.

Although, now they've thrown a little cross into the mix a la the Doubt art.

Information (?) Design

2009-04-17T00:07:00.000-07:00

Back when I took my information design class we wre given an online list of oxymorons, told to pick one and to illustrate it in 4 different ways. So these were my illustrations for the oxymoron "voodoo science."

Piqued Ears

2009-04-12T01:02:00.001-07:00

I do seriously love collectible items/film marketing propaganda! Check out the adorable baby Spock photo that was sent to various film bloggers around the net. It was a USB card with a set of collectible wallpapers related to the new Star Trek movie - each site got a card with a different sent of desktops on them. The idea being that they then a) Blog about getting the package, b) Put up the desktops (thus distributing hit traffic to these other websites rather than just the main Trek site), c) Generate a web flurry of people searching for ALL of the wallpapers on other sites.

J.J.Abrams is like an internet genius to me.

Film School Rejects' blog/set: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/exclusive-awesome-star-trek-desktop-wallpapers.php

TrekMovie.com's blog/set: http://trekmovie.com/2009/04/11/exclusives-star-trek-dac-poster-star-trek-movie-desktop-wallpapers/

Also the official Star Trek movie site ain't half bad! http://www.startrekmovie.com/

Apathetic Mime

2009-04-05T01:36:00.000-07:00

After making this video of my famous (to people who know me) character Brad doing some lip syncing using After Effects... :

...

I came up with a genius idea for a character who would continue to do more lip syncing videos like this. Only - he was a mime! Which would be OK except that he would also be apathetic! I still think this series of videos would have been hilarious (to me) but I never got around to it and now with YouTube swiping the music off of fan music videos I don't think it would work now.

But here's my 2nd draft of what Apathetic Mime might have looked like:

Passport to Gill Sans

2009-04-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

Just found some of my illustrations for my "4th Quarter Review" typography project at the Art Institute. They're fun and bright!

1000 Free Business Cards!!

2009-03-21T03:35:00.000-07:00

This company is providing 1000 free business cards to creative/design professionals (and students). If you do not already have a card designed you can download templates from the site or use the site to design them. After you sign up they'll send you a coupon code. Then you pick out the size and style (glossy/matte/etc. - but your options are limited) that you want and upload your own design. Double sided is OK! I ordered 1000 (why not? it's free!) and it's only going to cost $6.00 for shipping.

The offer is only good until March 31.

http://www.uprinting.com/Free-Business-Cards-KickStart09/

For some awesome business card inspiration check out this site: CardObserver.com

I also went to all of the sites that advertise on CardObserver.com and requested samples from each of them. In the next few months I'll be required to design a new brand and card for myself and I want to get some samples now so I'll now what to ask for when I actually PAY for a batch down the line.

Trailers are gold

2009-03-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

I wish I'd seen this when it originally was released but that doesn't make it any less funny.

Iron Man Trailer Controversy

Pleasing color palette

2009-03-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

Pleasing to me, at least. I find the blue/orange contrast palette to be the easiest to use and the best looking. I found this poster today (while doing some internship research) on the site for the design company Gravillis Inc. and instantly fell in love! (Granted, I have an obsession with Winona Ryder so it would have found its way on my wall ANYWAY.)

It's so complicated in its design yet comes off as simple and easy to read - I believe, in part, due to its color palette.

(Sidenote - I'm still in love with the Jing screen capture software, which I used to grab the above image. You can see a corner of Gravillis' site (the orange bar at top and left) because I did a sloppy rectangle. Still it shows how the bordering contributes to the look of the poster.)

YouTube and Copyright

2009-02-15T00:10:00.000-08:00

YouTube, much to my chagrin, has been going around ripping the audio off of videos lately. I find this a hideous act! It was one thing when they were just taking the videos off completely (if there was a song on there that shouldn't have been) but that was at least a "Oh well I knew I was taking a risk" action. (Still, I think, hideous though.) But worse, IMHO, is ripping off the audio. Because they're not just turning off the music (not that they could) but they're taking off ALLL of the audio. So there's a perfectly good video with people and talking and sound effects and etc... but you can hear NONE OF IT. What is even the friggin' point?

I love to watch fan music videos that people make and think this just rips the heart out of so many people's love and devotion to their favorite movies and shows when this crap happens.

There is a shining light in the form of some musical artists though! The first is that some artists have their songs available on YouTube itself so that you can add their track to your video. Evanescence, for example, is one of these artists. This is cool but it's not like they give you the song and you can edit to it... you can just choose to add it on. Then we have Imogen Heap (whom I love). She's just posted on her lasted VLOG that she is absolutely not responsible for taking down vids that feature her music (99% of which are likely the parodies of the "Dear Sister" SNL parody of the OC) and has her people in the process of correcting this with YouTube. She goes on further to say that if you email her and ask for permission to use her song (to preempt YouTube) she'll grant that permission. Yet another reason to love Imogen! So, if you can, make all your fan videos with Imogen's music from here on out. Then e-mail her at YouTube@imogenheap.com to get your permission to use it.

(She starts talking about the issue at 05:53)

Wonderfl

2009-02-07T16:12:00.001-08:00

Just found a site (via some hours of intense searching for SharedObject tutorials) where you can write Actionscript online with near-immediate compiling. The site is called Wonderfl and the idea is that you do some class-only type coding and then set it free. Other users can view your code or straight "fork" it and build upon it.

The only thing I ever made ALL in code was this fancy drawing of a haunted house scene so I popped it in with some cut and paste action for others to view.

flash on 2009-2-8 - wonderfl build flash online

(And I still haven't found the magic tutorial I need.)

TheDeeAyy Logos

2009-02-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

I tried to start an informal underground club at school called "The D.A." (which was an homage to Harry Potter but in our case represented "Digital Artists"). It SORTA existed as an intangible thing. At the end of last quarter some students decided to start an official IMD club (called "The IMD Club"). They held a little informal contest to design a logo for the group so I did these (in an effort to get them to change the name to "The D.A." because it's just cooler).

I liked 'em for roughs! But the group decided to stick with the "IMD Club" name so now I display these for posterity.

(I added the "i" to some of these to incorporate the school name "AI".)

Wakoopa, Jing and Coraline.com

2009-01-31T03:12:00.000-08:00

Tonight I tried out a new software called Jing which can be used for screencasting (up to 5 minutes worth) and screen captures. Typically I use the "Print Screen" button on my keyboard and then pop open Photoshop for cropping. Then I've got to save for web and ultimately upload to Blogger (or somewhere else). Jing is making the screen capturing a snap! I can crop and annotate right from my desktop. Too cool! And it's free!

I did the screencast below as a test. Unfortunately YouTube just did not know how to handle it so I had to upload it to Jing's partner site Screencast.com. I also uploaded the photos there (for this blog at least). So below you're seeing the embedded item coming from ScreenCast. (All well and good but I'm limited to 2GB of storage and 2GB of transfer per month. I'd much prefer to have it up at my webhost where those bits are "unlimited" BUT I'm lazy and don't want to write my own embed codes when this site will do it for me.)

Anyhoo - I used the software to review Coraline.com which is a great movie site (I think). (Special shout out to Adrea who got me to visit the Coraline site!)

(Coraline.com's intro begins with a nice "in concept" explanation as to why the site takes a long time to load.)

And here's my screencast about the software and the movie site (note that the site does not display in real time in the screencast.... the actual site flows fluidly employing the parallax effect).

(The only big issue with this embed is that I have to manually resize it to fit in this blog space. When you start playing it there is a small rectangle in the bottom right - click that to view this full screen.)

So I totally love that site! It reminds me of the EPK (Electronic Press Kit) for A BUG'S LIFE. (Which I gave a presentation on when I was in a class called "The Business of Independent Production" back at Emerson College. I also spoke on the movie sites for PRACTICAL MAGIC, a re-release of THE LITTLE MERMAID and the Vince Vaughn PSYCHO - so that gives you an idea of how long ago I started paying attention to this stuff. I remember that back then the BUG'S LIFE website was THE END ALL BE ALL of websites. We were all talking about that site back in the day. Sigh... memories.

So Coraline's treatment is wonderful and I'm hoping that 9 The Movie will get equivalent treatment (because that story just looks more interesting to me). Right now the site is just a placeholder frame holding a trailer.

Sites mentioned in this post:

-Coraline.com
-JingProject.com
-Wakoopa.com
-9TheMovie.com

Some fun illustration/photoshopping

2009-01-30T02:46:00.000-08:00

Someone told me that a good comp takes about 4 hours to make. I sat down to do some branding for my Fried Green Tomatoes fan site at about 10pm and at the end of it I had my new logo item - the green heart tomato. And then I played (which you should always do) and came up with this lovely photoshop/illustration. I call it "MY Sacred Heart."

My Sacred Heart by ~Ravie13 on deviant ART

Wordin' it Right

2009-01-18T18:26:00.000-08:00

Oh thank the Computer Gods (I think)! Here I was thinking that my Adobe Illustrator CS3 was just totally busted. I've spent the last few months on and off trying to figure out just what the problem was. It seemed to freeze whenever I tried to open or save a file. Finally I ended up creating a new user account on my computer which seemed to work (but that was a short term solution as I wanted my normal desktop with my Google sidebar back!).

During my holiday break I completely cleaned the computer, backed up data, uninstalled my entire Master Collection and then reinstalled it all only to find that.... it still didn't work! DRATTTT!!!

Today I ended up devoting my whole day to troubleshooting and spent the last 3-4 hours following the step by step instructions on "freeze" errors in Illustrator. Then suddenly it occurred to me... what if I'm not describing this problem accurately?

So I took a step back and recreated the problem. Open Illustrator. File. Open. Window appears for a second and then disappears leaving the program looking like it is frozen. However when I did a Ctrl-Alt-Del to get to the Task Manager... the program said it was "Running" and not "Not Responding." So wait... was it actually still working? Could it be that my window had just disappeared but that it still existed and Illustrator was forever waiting for me to make a decision about just what I wanted to open? I decided to google that phrase ("Illustrator open window appears and then disappears") and THAT led me to the CORRECT Knowledge Base article over at Adobe. Apparently this is a problem stemming from using my OS Dialog (instead of the Adobe Dialog) and having two monitors. PROBLEM SEEMS TO BE MOTHER-EFFIN' SOLVED!!! (I think.)

So if you're googling the same thing and you happen upon this post - Go Here: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb403268

Thank the Baby Christmas Jesus .. I can now get back into my love affair with Illustrator!

My Sense of Humor

2009-01-18T00:38:00.000-08:00

Damitol! Back in Web Design 2 class (otherwise known as "Introduction to Web Design") at the Art Institute (Los Angeles) we were asked to design a site for a fictional drug known as Damitol. We were to design the site in Fireworks (at the time it was still a Macromedia product) and the site was to include an original logo design (for whatever our particular version of Damitol did), the logo of the pharmaceutical company and a link to their website. We needed a set number of pages and it needed to look as real as possible (though it wasn't required to ACTUALLY be a full-working website... it was a "design" class after all).

Well I'd just seen the GENIUS movie, CHILDREN OF MEN, and so I was inspired to make my Damitol a suicide drug. I completed the assignment, uploaded it to the school server and that was the end of the story... I thought. Turns out I did a great job at SEO and if you actually Google "Damitol" my site is the first to show up. (Or at least it was... I just deleted it's old location today.)

This led to me getting a rather long email from a "good hearted person" who "found my site humorous" but thought that I best take it down because I was linking to a real pharmaceutical company and using their actual logo. (OK ... good point.)

So that was like a year ago and I finally got around to finding the old files and changing the logo and updating the thing.

My version of Damitol now lives here! (I get this dark sense of humor from my mother... just so you know where to place blame.)

Monkish

2009-01-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

I just found this site and now feel compelled to visit every site listed and make sure that my standard username is registered at all of them! I want to see the red "TAKEN" on all of them!!!! http://usernamecheck.com/

Why Google Chrome entertains me.

2009-01-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

LookieLoads

2009-01-16T19:49:00.001-08:00

Today somebody sent me a great site which just puts the artwork of website preloaders on display. It sounds like a joke but really when you just take a minute to look at what is essentially miniature artwork - it gives it a whole new spin (pun intended).

PrettyLoaded

It's also a great site for preloader inspiration.

Ladies and their hair

2009-01-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

Same designer?

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Movie Site Review

2009-01-01T23:25:00.001-08:00

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Official Site (http://www.benjaminbutton.com/)

I am very confused by the official site for the Curious Case of Bejamin Button. This is magical movie, directed by David Fincher, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, already nominated for awards...etc. etc. etc. I go back to "magical" for a second here - I expect MAGIC from this site. I want to know why he ages differently. I want to know where on Earth he lives. I want to know how he affects history. I want to know more about the friggin' story - at the least - in one place.

But the site is a mish mash of oddness akin to scattered papers on a desk.

The first thing I see on loading of the site is this undefined quote area:

It quickly loads the latest reviews (which makes me think it's powered by some back end Javascript or XML files) which is fine... but the placeholder text could be a little more interesting. On my end it took about 15 seconds before a real quote filled this placeholder and in that time I was scratching my head.

Next I enter the official site (that's why I'm here after all) and it takes EONS to load. Not only is it taking eons but I'm not actually sure where the loader is since it's clearly a time line relating to the story and not a traditional loader. The text on this loading screen is about as interesting as the site gets (in my opinion). Finally I've loaded all the data but nothing changes... only after a few moments of puzzling do I realize that the text "continue" has been added to the bottom of the screen (you'll have to scroll down if the site doesn't fit perfectly above the fold in your browser). (Of course I hadn't noticed that it appeared because I left for coffee while it loaded!)

I'm in the site finally and suddenly it's Where's Waldo starring Brad Pitt. Giant black and white pictures pull in to Benjamin Button at various ages amidst cityscapes or crowds... which might have been interesting as a site intro but this IS the site. The time line seems to be progressing as the pictures zoom in... that doesn't even make sense. Just because we're now zoomed all the way to Pitt does not mean 10 years have passed!?! And having seen the movie - I don't even see how they relate - except in the obvious way (Benjamin Button getting younger as the fashions/architecture get newer).

But maybe there's more? No, not really. The only things on this official site are the giant zooming pictures (the pictures had to be huge in order to zoom in to Pitt without ugly pixelization ... thus the huge download size I guess... but was it worth it?), an audio track and a gallery.

The gallery just sits on top of the giant zooming pictures (which continue to zoom) creating an "interesting" contrast. It might look amazing if it were still but as the picture in the back is still moving... it's distracting.

So what about watching the trailer or reading about the cast/story/etc.? You might expect to find these things on the official site, right? But no! When you click on "View Film Info" we're taken to a NEW site... MSN Movies ?!?! That's where the bulk of the data on the cast and story is. Including the trailers.

But then if I were to click on "Watch Trailer in HD" I'm instead taken to the Apple trailers site... even though the trailers were already on the MSN page.

Find Tickets and Showtimes takes me to 3 different movie ticket buying sites but that's not shocking. Apparently the Benjamin Button site isn't an information provider but rather a hub... a hub that takes too long to load to be a hub. Overall... pretty and atmospheric. But there's no magic.

Brown paper packages tied up with string...

2008-12-08T00:17:00.001-08:00

...these are a few of my FAVORITE things...

Yes. Pure Geekery. And it's not even impressive geekery if you're "in the know" but I loves it. (Note, no pictures of Javascript... of which I have yet to found love for.)

Knowing your roots

2008-12-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

The best way to grasp something is to explain it to somebody else. SO - I just learned this today and thus this blog is my "explanation to somebody else" (that might be useful to somebody in a google search one day.)

With AS3 came the elimination of "root". I had just learned AS2 roots and then boom... you've got to start all over because there ain't know root no mores!

Basically - in AS2 you can put all of your code on frame 1 of the main timeline - including your functions and global variables. Then if you make nested movieclips (as I do.. nested with nested within nested) you could call up to the function or movieclip in the main timeline by prefacing it with "root." Like so: "root.book_mc.gotoAndPlay("page1");"

Pretty simple once you got the hang of it. It was rather like a man in a sewer calling up to his buddy on the street level to say "Hey, throw me down a bottle of water." Or "Hey, can you call my wife and tell her I'll be late to dinner?"

Well now in ActionScript 3 there is no "root." (Well, actually there IS a root but it does something different that I just don't understand.) Instead you use "MovieClip(this.parent)". Or "MovieClip(this.parent.parent)" if you're nested two deep. (Or MovieClip(this.parent.parent.parent.parent.parent)...etc... although I don't know how far down you can drill before everything just explodes.)

For example - let's say that I have a MovieClip called "book_mc" and inside of that I have a MovieClip called "pages_mc" and inside of THAT I have another MovieClip called "words_mc". Now let's say that inside of "words_mc" I have a MovieClip called "button_mc". And when I click on this button I want the book to go and play it's animation of the book closing. (This blog would be helpful with graphic explanations... but alas... no graphics for you!)

In my code I would first clarify where exactly I was by using a trace statement (within an MouseEvent.CLICK function) like so: "trace (this.parent.name)" This is saying, "Hello button upon which I have just clicked... what is your Mom's name?" (Where "trace (this.name)" would yield a result of "button_btn", by putting the "parent" in there I would instead yield "words_mc".)

OK so now I know that I'm inside of words_mc. And I already know that words_mc is inside of pages_mc which is inside of book_mc. So in order to tell the book to close I would have to write something like "MovieClip(this.parent.parent.parent).gotoAndPlay("closeBook")". In order to call a FUNCTION on the main timeline I would write something like "MovieClip(this.parent.parent.parent).functionNameHere();"

These periods, btw, are actually "dots" and what I'm doing here is called "dot syntax."

Got it now?? Good. Instead of the man in the sewer this is more like some annoying guy at a mixer who is REALLY INTO genealogy, "Hi, who's your Mom? And who is her Mom? And what was her Dad's name? And his Dad? Yeah, I was wondering, could you please ask your Great Great Great Grandfather to send a message to Marty McFly? Awesome!"

(But I don't mean to confuse you... we're not actually time travelling. It's more like the man in the sewer saying, "Hey, I'm on this ladder, and this ladder is attached to a truck, and the truck is on the road and the road is in the universe and we are ALL in the Matrix!")

Damn! I better understand this now.

(Also check this FlashKit.com forum post for another, cleaner, way to do it in a more OOP way.)

Science of Sleep - Movie Site Review

2008-11-30T22:40:00.000-08:00

Science of Sleep (http://wip.warnerbros.com/scienceofsleep/site.html)

The Science of Sleep site employs the film's sense of playfulness and imagination by incorporating dreamlike animations and a tactile appearance (cardboard, tape, handwritten text, etc.) The site also creates interaction opportunities that exist solely for the user to play with. In other words... there's stuff that has no purpose other than to entertain the easily entertained. Nice!

Overall it exactly captures the mood of its story with just its design. No further reading necessary.

Design for reality

2008-11-24T03:12:00.000-08:00

Though I tried to be ON MTV's Engine Room - I never actually caught an episode. I have no idea what it was like or how it operated and frankly the site they have is a little odd and lame (the way they operate their profile pages). But alas - I did actually try to be on a reality show including making one of those dumb audition tapes and all that. (Which no one will ever see.)

Just caught wind of a new design-related reality show (thanks to a tweet on twitter) called CMYK America. It's gonna be a reality show for graphic designers (which I am not). But if you think you are here you go: http://www.cmykamerica.com/index.html

Transparent PNGs

2008-11-23T22:32:00.000-08:00

PNGs are beautiful things ... except when it comes to IE6. Bleh! Here they are - so pretty and beautiful... and then you open up your damn site in IE6 and you get that ugly grey box. Well thanks to a friend at school I now know the solution and that solution lives here: http://www.twinhelix.com/css/iepngfix . I cannot even BEGIN to tell you what the hell is going on in that code that that generous person has coded for general use but I know that it is revolutionary and magical (for me). (FYI - as of this moment, 2492 other people have bookmarked that link on Delicious.)

(Not as revolutionary and magical as when I learned how to make transparent backgrounds in Flash but still it opens up whole new worlds.)

Photography

2008-11-23T02:29:00.001-08:00

Photography is something that I've been progressing on since I was little (always posing for my Dad, the amateur photographer). I've owned a wide variety of cameras in my lifetime and decided way back in the day that I wanted to learn more. I even had my father set up assignments for me just for play. The first one he gave me was "still life" and I spent one summer day just thinking up a wide range of items and placements. He let me use his tripod and his fancy camera and it was a great day of play.

But then I went to college and had my first film classes... oh wow. I had no idea that there would be so many numbers involved. So much math! I just wanted to see things and capture them the way I see them with MY eyes. But the math stopped me. Confused me. Bewildered me. (Plus it was expensive!) But still - back then and up until now, getting my second degree, I've continuously given myself more and more photo projects just to try and beat the math stuff into my brain (including an interface redesign of the Canon S3 IS camera for "Interface Design" class). (If you actually click on that link, note that the camera is an image map and you're supposed to click on the camera buttons to make it work.)

Someone told me there was a quote.. he didn't know where it was from and so I can't relay it properly. But he said something about "when you take photos you either see things as a window or a mirror." My father definitely sees things as a window. His photos always look like fantastical views and he's forever pointing out all the shapes and figures he sees in them. For me - it's a mirror. Everything reminds me of me and a feeling or an emotion that I have.

So studying photography has been tough. Trying to juggle all the logic/math/light with the image I see is tough. And though I'll continue to try and display what I see, now that I've taken a "REAL" photography class (with real film stocks and black and white enlargers and chemicals and all) I know that professional photography is probably not for me. Though I do keep getting better - I must admit. I'm not to the level of the general JPG Magazine user yet but better than I used to be. (The best compliment I got was when my Videography teacher, a professional, thought I was using stock footage for one of my assignments.)

Progression?

This was an assignment I completed in Photography 1 class at the Art Institute. We were to interpret song lyrics with photos.

The final project for that same class was our own choice. I decided to take photos of movie theaters while trying to portray them as "my churches."

(In this class I first started to realize that I am really attracted to VIVID color in my art and design. And also that I prefer to take pictures of structures, architecture and landscapes. No people!)

This is a rough version of the project in which the teacher thought I was using stock video. But no! All shot by moi!

MyPetBloggery

2008-11-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

As I've been worshipping the genius of the JohnnyHollow.com and MyPetSkeleton.com sites since before I started at web school (which was one of the reasons I went... "please oh school, teach me the geniusness of Vincent Marcone") - I was very thrilled to learn today that Vincent has just started a new blog of his own.

Check it out and put it on your watch list. He'll be adding art and tutorials from time to time. http://www.theartofmypetskeleton.com/

As I write this post I'm listening to the free Johnny Hollow radio page: http://www.thishollowworld.net/

Oh and btw - turns out - you can't be taught geniusness. You're just born with it.

On a completely unrelated note, I have been having a plethora of problems with my WACOM tablet lately. For some reason my mouse double clicks everything ... this is ANNOYING. As I was cussing at it yesterday my mother came into the room and said, "What's the matter? Having problems with your WICCAN?" HA!

Juno - Movie Site Review

2008-11-18T23:19:00.000-08:00

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/juno/

The site for the Fox Searchlight release, JUNO, is on the cusp of new interaction design for the current era. It combines traditional Flash movie site design (to present cast and crew bios and story information) with Web 2.0 features like widgets, slide shows, blogs and a social “Junoverse” to connect with the current Internet users.

While the Flash aspect of the site carries the story of the film and its character, the rest of the site keeps users coming back for updated information and connection with other fans. It is a well-designed hybrid and a piece of the larger Fox Searchlight social network.

I really think Fox Searchlight came up with this awesome back end universe for all of its new releases! Joining the FSL network gives you access to all of its movie site releases and allows them to create their own little MySpace-styled "personal home page" for each film. The only downer is that you sacrifice the all-encompassing environment that movie sites usually offer in exchange for the easier update management. The environment is still there though. The hybridization works because the flash environment is above the fold.

Other movies using the Fox Searchlight management/network include:

The Savages

Choke

The Wrestler

The Secret Life of Bees

If you want to see a "Before and After" of sorts regarding the new style and old style of Fox Searchlight sites - compare the sites for Night Watch and the sequel Day Watch.

addChild'sPlay

2008-11-18T00:09:00.001-08:00

I had a whole bunch of ideas for "not that funny but kind of chuckle-worthy if you're really tired and loopy" comic strips that I was going to call "Punnery." For some reason I was storing them in an MSN Group... and then I promptly ignored all emails from MSN Groups telling me that they were going to shut down my space (and their whole service) and delete everything. So poof - they're all gone. But a few of them were retained in my brain RAM so I might share them later. I still don't know what style they should be in. Polished? Really shiny and Web 2.0? My current thought is "lazy-assed Erin" style ... hey it might be interesting. Sort of like Cyanide and Happiness!

Punnery... is out the window. It wasn't the "right" title for something that was simply going to be REALLY DUMB humor about web design and programming. My new title is more along the right track.

So here's my first attempt at "addChild'sPlay":

Idea Books (and their gaping holes)

2008-11-17T03:42:00.000-08:00

When I was a little kid my parents would sometimes take me to the Santa Monica mall (for typical mall shopping things). Then afterward my father would cross us over to the shops outside of the mall so that he could visit Hennessey and Ingalls "Art and Architecture" bookstore. I hhhhhhhated it. I was soooo bored surrounded by big tomes full of boring art history things. He loved it.

Eventually they developed those dingy shops and dirty streets into the 3rd Street Promenade and Hennessey and Ingalls moved around the corner (now it's on Wilshire between 2nd and 3rd streets).

Earlier this year I found myself at the Promenade with my father and I graciously granted him the trip into H&I. To my SHOCK and SURPRISE - H&I now had a huuge selection of effin' cool books (to geeks like me) about web, package, poster, graphic, graffiti, logo (and etc.) DESIGN. (Don't ask me why some art bores me and some art thrills me... I guess it's just my taste.)

My first stop was to look for the Logo Lounge series (which is flippin' cool) before I then pored through all the web design idea books. We didn't spend much time there but, now excited, I soon drug my friend back and we sat and browsed their selections for a while.

The golden find was this book - The Web Designer's Idea Book:

The book is chock full of photos of sites based on general ideas about their design styles (i.e. "sites that are pink", "sites that collage", etc.). I NEEDED THIS BOOK when I started in my major!! I decided to buy it then and there! And then remembered that I was a cheap bastard and went home and found it on Better World Books for less $ and with free shipping. It's now full of little post-it tabs.

Turns out the book is based on the author's website - DesignMeltdown.com

There is, however, one big MISSING for me in this book and site - the "Movie Site" under site types. Where is it? It's a distinct genre of its own! I'd even accept "Radio, TV & Film" if they wanted to break it out further. (Music & Bands already has a category!) But really... I only care about the movie sites and how they carry across their concept from screen to monitor.

So I decided that from time to time I'm going to feature some movie sites in this blog - to fill this huge gap in the DesignMeltdown/Web Designer's Idea Book's world. Just to give credit where credit is sometimes due. They're already giving Emmys away for TV websites. I'm hoping Movie sites will soon qualify for tech Oscars. (So I can still hope for an Oscar in my life.)

The obligatory first post

2008-11-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

RavenWolf Productions is the umbrella term for everything creative that Erin Lillis (blog writer) produces or has produced. It's not a business but more like a basket full of goodies. Sometimes the goodies are bright and cheery and filled with scrumptious humor. Sometimes the goodies are darker, gooier and suspiciously re-wrapped in store-bought plastic wrap. But put simply - RavenWolf Productions are nouns. And this blog is about the everyday elements (the interactive media and web designerly things) that sometimes go into the recipes for these nouns.