Monday, February 19, 2007

Lily

Today is the first day in a long time the temp reached 70 F. It is finally warm enough here in TX to open the windows and air out the apartment. As soon as the window is open, who should jump on the sill but Lily. To explain to anyone who doesn't know me and my little family, Lily is an American Shorthair with snow white fur and blue eyes. She's about 10 years old and a bit on the heavy side (the vet can't figure out why, neither can we).

So Lily jumps into the windowsill after I open the window and starts sniffing the air (the windows haven't been opened in months, and she's an indoor kitty). I sat watching her, thinking just how adorable she is with the sun shining on her face, and inspiration in the form of charcoal pencil struck. I grabbed my sketchbook and did a couple of quick sketches before she grew bored and jumped onto the bed.

This first I don't quite have a title for (and backgrounds are definitely not my forte), but she was watching the birds and squirrels while rotating her ears. Most likely she was hearing the scratch of charcoal on the paper.



The second is titled "squirrel or bird?". Something moving caught her eye as she hunkered down and pressed her face into the screen. I laughed so loudly when I saw her ear bent against the screen that she jerked her head around and glared at me for causing a disturbance.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

SnapFit Runners

SnapFit Runners was a project for a very special client of Webprod.net Productions. Mr. Charbonnet is a brilliant engineer who is always thinking up ways to make things better and easier to use, such as dice for blind gamers (Photos courtesy of me), so we wanted to make his latest project really pop. We took his existing website and logo and ...well... threw it in the trash. I began the project by rebranding the company, giving it a new logo and sleeker look. The website just grew from there. With the freedom of a new logo, and a much better color scheme, I was able to really customize the site with original buttons and images tailored to the company. SnapFit is perhaps my favorite project, mostly because I was able to put a spin on it that the client really felt embodied the spirit of his company.

Graphic Design

I figured posting a few of my pieces here would be a quick way to update my portfolio. It would also allow people to comment on my work and perhaps give some constructive criticism. Speaking of constructive criticism (CC):

To give CC is to give useful advice. I don't mind comments that either post a dislike of the work or a like. To say "Well, I don't really like your style" or even "I think your drawing of the girl today is kinda ugly." is fine. To say "Wow, you've got some really good work here" is okay too. But I really appreciate something like "While the overall composition is good, I think your proportions on the upper body need some work. The left side looks too big compared to the right, and the figure is unbalanced unnaturally. If she were really in that pose, her left leg couldn't support her weight". This is CC.

What I will not tolerate is comments like "Ur drawing sux @$$, n00b!" I don't like moderating comments, but I reserve the right to delete any comments that are degrading, bigoted, offensive, or downright rude.