I am currently creating a small illustration of a woman holding back a tide of crap from falling out her closet door. The client is a wonderful woman who owns a series of storage facilities (amongst other things). I sought to tone down the overt femininity of this character (read: not draw a bikini model) in an effort to be politically correct. This was my first mistake. I clothed her in baggy clothes, I de-emphasized certain parts of anatomy and I added a little age to the features. Nothing was drastic, but she did look a bit “manly.” When asked if I could make her more feminine in form I said “sure.” So I tucked the shirt in, broadened the hips, pumped up the chest, and dropped about 10 years from her age. I also fixed a number of other issues, but in the process, somewhere, somehow, I gave her bubble butt. I would really like to find a middle ground here.

I almost forgot to post a reminder about my latest Artiste Gullible Installment. Part Sketchbook and part writer’s journal, this diversion of mine has taken a back seat lately as I attempt to keep up with an absolutely nasty school schedule and tight studio hours. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you are tired of hearing about it.)

So here is a thumbnail, and you can see the whole thing at Artiste Gullible’s Adventures in the Here and Now.

After an exhaustive test of Blogo (by Brainjuice software.) I have decided I LOVE it and purchased it today. (The timed trial ended.) I must say that the interface is as simple as it gets, and the desktop power is incredible. I am a pretty finicky guy when it comes to my blogs. I like to have the graphics, and thumbnails, and the content, and tags, and categories all working for me. Finding a desktop client to post my content from my desktop is an easy enough task. There are a lot of programs out there that accomplish this job. But finding a client that will allow me to post from my desktop, where I will have 100% confidence that what I posted will look like it is supposed to, and have all the necessary meta info at the same time, so that I do NOT need to redundantly re-visit my site to fix the things the desktop client got wrong; That is a truly gifted product.

An added bonus was the Twitter feature that is built into Blogo. Stay with me now, ’cause the geekery is going to get a bit thick. But I have a pretty active Facebook page. I use it for work, rambling and keeping up with colleagues as well as friends and family. I also have a twitter account that is mostly geared towards my Web Comic: Artist Gullible. I have recently discovered a Facebook app that reads selective Twitter posts and places them on my Facebook page, often killing two birds with one stone. This is cool, but to level up, I can now create a blog entry in Blogo, twitter about it from Blogo and Facebook will then pick up the twit and the link back to my original blog post. ALL WITHOUT LEAVING MY DESKTOP!

My geekery is now complete and I am actually being more productive doing it.

A long time ago I received a demo copy of Comic Life from Plasq software. It was one of those rare chunks of engineering where you could tell they had a lot of fun developing it, and it actually did something very unique, using a unique tool set, in a very simple but special way. As a long time creator of comics, I fell in love with it immediately. I could now create in Photoshop or Sketchbook Pro and drop it into Comic life to finish up the bothersome chore of paneling and lettering.

Recently, I discovered a new version of Comic Life called Comic Life Magiq. With the success of Comic Life under their belts, the developing team; drunk with code driven excess, jumped off the cliff of infallibility into user-interface hell.

The upgrade (a cross-grade — because they still offer the original version of Comic Life) is not without some great improvements. More balloon and frame control (curving tails) and support for Photoshop layers makes it interesting and worthwhile. But the user interface is confusing, self indulgent, and often leaves you with that ever so wonderful “WTF?” look on your face.

The bottom line; There are parts of me that really like what they have done with the software and there are parts of the software that I really HATE. Comic life is built around the idea that you can use iPhoto as an image source for a comic-book-style layout using your own creative dialog and questionable wit. CLM takes this one step further and gives you special effects and retouching controls for your photos. These however are built into an artist’s pallet screen dialog that sacrifices clarity for gee-whiz smoke and mirrors. Instead of clearly labeled controls, I have icons that again leave me guessing at what I am doing and where I am.

Since I draw my own content, and I own Photoshop, I find the new interface to be underwhelming.

For fun I used a half-finished editorial cartoon from last year as the basis of my test. I have been thinking of reviving this part of my creative expression for a while. Maybe even starting a depository for it using ComicPress under a subdomain.

I will be using CLM for the next week or so to create some comics. Maybe my viewpoint will change. Maybe the interface will grown on me. Maybe I will see the everlasting light of truth buried under a pink button. It could happen.

We will see.

Phone book ads remind me of protection rackets. “Youz are gonna pay us $650 a month, for your full page display adz. And we promise to cash your check and forget who you are for the next year. And ifs youz nice, and don’t scream too much, weez will actually attempt to get your phone number correct — no extra charge.”

I am creating a new phone book ad for a client to replace last years (freebie) ad that they (the phone book people) screwed up. Freebie is a loose term really. They design it for “free,” although at $8,000 a year it’s hard to call anything free. And the quality of the design is three steps above Bongo the chimpanzee and his amazing finger paints.

To compensate for the screw up, they are giving my client a “free” color upgrade this year. Yes, my client had to live with the awful ad all of last year. (Phone books don’t do reprints.) And yes, my client lost business because of it. But the best the phone book people could do was a color upgrade?

(In my best Tony Soprano voice.) “It’s just bitness, nuttin personal … you understand?”

Speaking of which … when was the last time you used a phone book? It might just be geeky me, but when I need to find a company, I Google it. When my client asked me to look at their ad, I had to quickly dig up the book, which was buried under winter coats and boots. It was placed in this place of respect by my son, who distributed them as a Boy Scout fund raising project last fall, and dropped it here when he walked through the front door. We must have kicked it around for three weeks before the accumulating strata hid its whereabouts from view. Otherwise, I would have had NO clue where to find it.

Which reminds me … I need to add my address and phone number to my big yellow blog header.

There is something about me that likes the “outside the box” approach that grass roots guerilla marketing lays claim to. I like it even better when the results of those guerilla promises actually deliver. What do I like about it? It could be the on-the-low, biggest bang for the buck, stand up and take notice, no holds barred, mentality. It could also be that it forces a designer to stop thinking pretty and corporate and gets you dirty.

I have recently completed a somewhat market focused ad built around a three cent xerox flyer on yellow paper that will be distributed, posted, tacked, and handed out by volunteers here in Coeur d’Alene. The ad was built from the ground up to be lossy — the the more grittier and grungy the better. I created some hyper contrasty Photoshop magic from a picture that was already in-your face. For me, the ad is definitely a stretch. For my client, it is also an experiment in something different x 10. I don’t want to let too much out of the bag, but I will post a visual of this next week after we tally the results. Until then … here is a sneak peek.

It has been a long time coming, and I have not yet reached the point where I can say to myself that it is finished (is there ever such a point?) but I have successfully updated my portfolio and made some navigation changes.

To start off, I killed all the drilling down into specific folders and lumped all my logos and advertising together. I have also brought all my illustration under one umbrella. This should make it easier to view samples and keep navigation simple. I have moved my sculpting portfolio off of this site and I am moving it to another domain. I know this goes contrary to what I was saying earlier this year, but it never felt right to have it sort of frankenstein-ed onto this site. Instead of a blog, however, I think that my sculpting site will be a stand alone informational site. We will see, a lot of this rearranging is still in the air.

Comments or no comments? The rest of this site is open to comments and those of you who read and send “good vibes” my direction are encouraged to keep doing so. A few of you have noticed that I do not have my portfolio open for comments. I am not sure why I choose to do this? It is not like my portfolio is more “formal” than the other parts of my blogfolio. I will think about it. If you want to influence the decision, I can be bribed with M&Ms or you can leave a comment here.

For years I have tried to balanced my studio advertising work with an eclectic mix of national and local clients. Some of these clients live in here in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Others operate corporate offices out of Spokane, Washington, or Seattle. From Florida, to New York, to Chicago, to LA, I am lucky to have made a a valuable impact with a variety of clients, a few of which I have actually met in person. It is a interesting world we live in when I can collect a $50,000 check from somebody, whom I have worked hand-in-hand with, and feel like I know like a good friend, and yet I have never seen their face.

It is wonderful, however, to do local work where I can see instant reactions to my creative efforts, and bank the rewards of a personal face-to-face meeting. It is hard to cash a spontaneous smile, but the value really is priceless.

Braided Accents has been one of my Coeur d’Alene clients for over six years. When they call up in a panic on Wednesday afternoon and need an ad by Friday morning I am happy to oblige service. As a long term client they have banked a lot of smiles in my account.

Ok, it’s not the academy awards. But from time to time I will get the opportunity to work on a commercial and I always jump at the chance to keep my skills up to date and my finger in the pie. This was a quick fifteen second spot that appears on public television and is very controlled. In fact all PBS “Ads” are very controlled because they do not want the ad to be overtly “selling” anything. It is really more of a branding opportunity with a phone number, and no call to action and no claims, and no single product endorsements. It is fun though. And since my Brother Mike, does video production in New York, it is a very easy web-based collaboration. It is not client approved yet, but as soon as it is, I will post it for the world to see.

Now … where’s that red carpet?

My grandfather had the Sears catalog. During the depression, he would leaf through the pages and dream of things he could never afford. It provided a generation with the catalyst for hope; unbound avarice. Gone is the Sears catalog and their pages of advertising delights, but in our current economic times I gotta admit that I too, turn to a catalog for my hope of better times and looser budgets.

My catalog of choice is ThinkGeek. It is filled with the things that make me go “I wanna, I wanna, I wanna!” Where else can you buy the world most convenient surge protector (the squid), a titanium spork, astronaut ice-cream, and caffeinated soap?
This past week was April fools and like every year, they offered a never before seen product. A Tauntaun sleeping bag. It is the coolest thing ever. Although meant as a joke, it generated enough response that they are actually thinking about creating it for real. Is this America or What? My 5 year old saw it and went crazy. He can’t wait to sleep in the belly of the beast.

This is just another reminder that I am geeky without reproach.