After all my attempts to convince myself I did not want to buy into the hype and spend time and energy trying to get an iPhone on the day of it’s release, I owned an 8 GB iPhone by 6:20 pm yesterday.
Sigh…. I am such a tech toy geek.
In my defense, I was actually at the Mall of America at 3 pm yesterday to deliver supplies to my caricature/tattoo booth in the Park at MOA and to meet with a new artist that starts today. Just out of curiosity I went by the Apple store, which had a queue of at least 150 people outside it. They were all clacking away on laptops using the Apple Store’s free wifi, and some had been there for a long time judging by the blankets and pillows strewn about. No thanks.
Then on my way out of the mall at 4:00 I went by the AT&T store on the 3rd floor. I was startled to see only 14 people in line. I asked the AT&T rep if that was really the line, and he confirmed it was indeed. He asked if I wanted to get an iPhone. I thought about all the overblown hype, the difficulties and bugs that are bound to be issues with an initial product as complex as this one, the reliance on the snail-like AT&T “Edge” network, the large price tag, the almost useless amount of iPod memory…
…I immediately answered: “YES!”
I was given a numbered wristband, and told I was allowed to leave the line for up to 15 minutes if my neighbors agreed to this… although as my wristband was numbered I did not see where my neighbors had any say in the matter. I sat in line for a short time, then used my 5 minutes to go buy a book and a soda. A two hour wait did not seem very long. I’ve waited longer for a 60 second ride on a roller coaster. I settled in with my book (Richard Bachman‘s aka Stephen King‘s BLAZE, see later review) for the wait.
Two hours later there were 50 people in line, and they let the first 5 people in. There was security all over the place, and only one guy had the key to the backroom and was able to actually get the iPhones. So there were 5 cashiers that were mostly waiting for this very slow person to trudge back and forth bringing out one at a time. Even so they did not have to do anything but ring them up, as all activation is done on the internet with iTunes. My turn came quickly, maybe 6:15 or so. I walked up to the salesperson and had the following exchange:
Salesperson (very cheery, smiley and enthusiastic): “Looking for an iPhone?”
Me (deadpanning confusion): “No, I was interested in a Treo…”
There was a moment of stunned silence. I wish I’d had a camera for this guy’s expression. The salesman next to him overheard and did a double take. Then I grinned. I suppose they’ll hear some variation of that gag a few hundred times over the next week or so, but my delivery got them. Suckers.
I was walking out of the store at 6:20 with my iPhone.
So… the verdict? A big thumbs up for the most part. The iPhone does some things incredibly well, and reinvents other things. It has limitations and some common and handy cellphone features are left out that I will miss. Overall it lives up to the hype. Here are some highlights:
Activation- This is done via iTunes 7.3 (have to download the new version… no disc in the box). Once installed you simply dock the iPhone like an iPod, and an activation window appears in iTunes. You answer questions using check boxes and it walks you through the process. Since I was already an AT&T customer, I simply had to enter my existing cell number, the zipcode and some identifying info, and it was all set up. I chose my “data plan” (since my voice plan would remain the same) which was $20.00 a month for the basic unlimited internet and 200 text messages. The only snag happned when it tried to register me with the iTunes store. I get an error each time it tries (whenever I dock the phone) which says the iTunes site is “too busy” and to try again later). It’s likely overwhelmed by geeks like me trying to activate the phone. Thankfully this is not a step the iPhone needs to function. Also because of some glitch you cannot transfer the main number of a family plan account to an iPhone. That necessitated my changing the main number on our plan to The Lovely Anna’s phone. I was told this would be a temporary glitch.
I activated with iTunes on a Mac. PC’s may be different.
Syncing- The iPhone then appeared in iTunes just like an iPod, and I was able to make choices as to what got synced, etc. I chose to put only one playlist of audio on the phone, the last three episodes of “Lost” and “Heroes”, and an album I created in iPhoto called “iPhone pics” so I wouldn’t waste space on the phone with useless pictures I didn’t want to take with me. Like the iPod, the syncing worked quickly and easily. My Mac’s “Address Book” was copied over to the phone, my iCal data and the mail accounts info for my POP mail account. No e-mails were copied, however. This is too bad, and I wanted to be able to take e-mails I’d received in the studio with me on the road. There might be way to do that but I haven’t figured it out yet. One thing, the iPhone dock grips the phone like a vice and it’s hard to get in and out.
Again, all this on a Mac. Who knows what may lurk within a Windows/iPhone sync.
The Interface- This is where the iPhone shines. The user interface is as elegant and intuitive as the Mac. The icons are glassy and gorgeous, and the screen changes not with clunky flashes but with swooping, zooming, wiping or dissolving transitions. The screen resolution is better than the current video iPod. The touch screen works very well, and the innovative rolling-scroll, pinch-zoom in and flick-zoom out will quickly become part of everyday technological features and the tech vocabulary. It’s everything they advertised in this department.
The Phone- Surprisingly, this part of the iPhone is lacking the most. No voice dialing, no easy one-touch dialing… the fastest way to dial a number takes three screen touches. First, you have to have the number added to your “favorites” list. Then you press the “phone” icon, then the “favorites” icon, then the name. Otherwise you have to press the “phone” icon, then “contacts”, scroll to the name, press it, then press the number on the digital button to dial. There will be a few extra car accidents involving the iPhone over other cellphones in the coming months. You absolutely cannot dial a number without paying attention to the screen. If you have the attention to give it, then it works quite well with pleasing visuals when calls come in, and easy to use buttons that pop up to give you choices when things get crazy. If you are on call A and caller B beeps in, their caller ID is displayed two buttons pop up allowing you to ignore the call or place caller A on hold to answer it. Then additional buttons appear alowing you to “swap” back to caller A, or to merge the calls for a conference feature. You can also place a call on the speaker phone, on hold, mute the mike, bring up the keypad or look at contact info during a call. There are lots of other features, most found on other phones but not done as “pretty”.
I’d love to tell you about video voicemail, one of the features I am most looking forward to, but I can’t set it up as apparently AT&T’s network is also overwhelmed right now. Both internet access to my AT&T account and phone access to voice-mail, which you use to record your greeting and set preferences, is inaccessible.
Contacts is the best part, especially for Mac users. I’ve never had a phone that is as seamless at syncing ALL the info I have for contacts. Every number, name and other data are there, PLUS any notes which I use all the time for clients and vendors. It even uses the little pictures you can have in your Mac address book.
The iPod- Apple claims this is the best iPod they’ve ever made. I’d agree, but again the low memory makes it little more than a cool feature. The on-screen controls are easy to use, and the cover flow interface will quickly make iPod users forget about the click-wheel. The rotation feature is very cool, where the screen turns to landscape when you turn it sideways. That works for photos as well as the music, but videos seem to always play landscape regardless (not a problem, as that’s the best way to watch them anyway). No, the problem is the tiny flash hard drive. I placed 4.3 hours of video and 15 hours of audio and about 160 photos on it, and half the memory is used up already. It’s good over a few movies and some of your favorite playlists for a trip somewhere, and that’s about it. When they come out with the same concept as a dedicated iPod with about 80 GB’s of memory, look out. That is going to be something.
The Internet- At first I thought the iPhone was going to be a terrific internet device, but it definitely has it’s drawbacks here. Yes, the Safari browser is great and works very well… but only when using a wifi signal. The “Edge” network is as slow as they say it is. I don’t really care, as I was perfectly fine with using a wifi network to do any surfing I need. The iPhone connected to my home wifi network easily, even though my SSID is not broadcast and I had to manually enter the name of the network as well as the WEP password. Once done it connected seamlessly. I was able to surf the internet via my home wifi, and in fact can read this blog right on the phone. I can zoom in and out and scroll just like with pictures. The ‘tabs’ feature is also cool, as instead of using tabs it just zooms out to a cover flow-like visual of open pages, which you can scroll through and tap one to zoom in on it. It downloaded my mail without a single setting entered, as it got those from my Mac when I synced.
The problem with the wifi is that there does not seem to be a way for it to remember the WEP password. Everytime it goes to sleep, it logs off the network and even though the network info is still there and it seems to try and connect, it cannot. There is a “cannot connect” error. I have to set up the wifi again, retyping the name and WEP password each time. Maybe this is a glitch, and maybe there is a setting I am missing. I’d read the manual but… no manual. Once a real, high speed nationwide wifi network is a reality, the iPhone will be shown to be ahead of it’s time. Right now it is little more than a toy feature.
I have barely scratched the surface of the iPhone. I haven’t touched “maps”, “stocks” or other main functions yet. From what I’ve seen this is a highly useful toy and unless it proves fragile or very buggy I will not begrudge the 2 hours I spent in line nor the $600.00 I dropped on it. The fact that it syncs so well with my Mac for both contacts and the calendar, and acts as a full featured PDA/mini computer makes it worth the coin right there for me.
Yes, I succumbed to the iPhone temptation. Maybe there’s a Twelve Step program out there for techno-addicts.
Extremely busy on several jobs right now, and two new ones on top of that.
After wrapping up pencils on a MAD job and another project today, I got a chance to do the pencils on that Sherlock Holmes audiobook project. The client wants me to create a caricature-like image of Holmes without doing an actual caricature of any of the actors who have portrayed him. Here’s what I came up with:
Doing something like that isn’t as complicated as it might sound. After all, the image of Sherlock Holmes is well defined in pop culture’s visual lexicon. All I need do is design a caricature with the attributes assigned to Holmes: Thin and angular, with a “masterful” brow, intellectual, egotistical, proper yet casual with an air of superiority and a knowing, “somewhat bored with the predictability of it all” expression.
With some tweaking this will be used as the image for downloading a new, chronological collection of the complete Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “canon” of Holmes stories from Audible.com.
It’s been a while since The Dreaded Deadline Demon darkened the door. I am paying the price for working 4 of the last 5 days doing live caricatures at Valleyfair and daring to take a full day off on the one day I did not work to attend a neighborhood get together. I now have five full blown projects in the works, and things are going to get interesting the next few days. The good news is that some of the jobs I’ll be able to post in stages, so I can share some of the process over the next few days.
Yes, today is the one year anniversary of the MAD blog. They said it wouldn’t last.
I visit a number of blogs regularly, but few every day. I always hate visiting a blog to find it hasn’t had an update in weeks. I promised myself on the outset of doing this blog that I would try and write something every day unless a serious deadline of some kind made that impossible, and on those days I would at least acknowledge readers with some kind of apology or excuse. I wanted the blog to be part entertainment, part educational, part sharing of information and opinions, and part a glimpse into the world of caricatures and freelance illustration. I didn’t want this to be just another “looky here, see what I drew on this napkin at the bar!” art blog, or another self-validating effort of vanity that some blogs seem to be. Of course the very idea that anyone out in cyberspace should give enough of a crap about me and my thoughts/ art/ opinions that I should have a blog in the first place is more than a bit of an exercise in vanity when you think about it. Mostly I just wanted to do some writing, whether it was read or not.
Mission accomplished. 365 days, 365+ posts. Sure, the Dreaded Deadline Demon made an appearance or three, some days the posts were little more than links to something someone else wrote on some other site or blog, and some were not very interesting. Some (I hope) were educational or at least entertaining. A few were long efforts of time and energy (i.e. the tutorials), but most required just some thought and a little effort. I knew the main challenge to be coming up with worthwhile or at least interesting topics on a daily basis. That proved true, but life would be very boring without some challenges.
When my blog comes up in conversation with colleagues or friends, it always ends up with them asking me the following: “how” and “why”?
The “how” is always “how do you find the time to write that often and that much in your blog?”. The answer is that it takes me less time that one might think, and that I just do it instead of watching TV or bowling or playing video games. You make the time to do something that is either important to you, something you are committed to, or that you like to do. If one of those three things applies, it’s not so hard… except for the part about me being a two finger typist. That’s a little hard, but I never got around to learning to type correctly. I am, however, the fastest two fingered typist you will ever see.
The “why” is also easy. It’s therapy. There was a short time in my life I considered scrapping the whole art thing for a career in writing. A very short time. I’ve always enjoyed writing but outside of a bunch of articles for the National Caricaturist Network’s newsletter I never got much of a chance to do it. When I found out about blogs, I saw an opportunity to scratch the writing itch on my own terms. It’s therapy because it allows me to express ideas, humor and tell stories without using visuals, and that takes a whole different set of creative muscles. I think the commitment to this blog has helped me in my art by strengthening my brainstorming skills, keeping me focused on daily routines and in general taking my mind off drawing and illustration jobs for a little time each day and exercising a different area of my brain.
In short (whoops, too late for that…AGAIN), I’ve enjoyed doing the blog and consider the experiment a success. Not all of it worked, of course. I quickly realized my “Sketch of the Day” idea was impossible… I think a “Sketch of the Week” is very doable, though. The “Sunday Mailbag” feature has been working well, but I imagine eventually I’ll run out of questions people may have for me… how many questions can anyone have about illustration, MAD or caricature? Some of my tech-geek-gadget posts are a little off topic, as well as some of my fitness posts, but you write abut what interests you. The “Dreaded Deadline Demon” is used as little as possible, I assure you. When he’s on the prowl, you know it’s getting ugly in the studio. The tutorials have been very well received but they require extraordinary effort and will be few and far between. There will be more eventually, however.
Yes, I have enjoyed doing the blog and the process involved. I hope those of you who are still reading found some enjoyment as well, maybe learned something, or at least didn’t feel the visit wasted.
Q: I have a question for your blog site about MAD artists. I have heard there are two kinds. Those younger artists who grew up reading MAD and the older ones who first drew for MAD (could not read it as a youngster as it did not exist). Can you comment on these types and do you think there is a difference between what a newer artist can contribute as a result of “growing up” on MAD?
A: Well, it’s like they say… there’s nothing like the original.
I think the early generation of MAD artists were no less than trail blazers and giants in the industry. They had nothing to go by but their raw creativity and talents. Nobody had really done anything quite like MAD before, so they had to invent it all. They all had their own influences, of course, but those influences came from unrelated sources and were hammered and melted together into their own idea of humorous, satirical cartoon art.
We later MAD artists benefited from their creating the standard and the template which became MAD as we know it. Satirical cartoon art and the MAD “feel” was well defined by the likes of Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Wally Wood, Don Martin, Sergio Aragones, etc. etc. We didn’t have to create that feel and sensibility of humor from scratch, it was already there and we learned it like one would learn a language. I’m not talking about mimicking the drawing styles of the classic MAD artists, I’m talking about absorbing the feel of the entire magazine… the unique MAD humor and veiwpoint. The self-deprecating yet smart-assed, cheeky, berate-the-obvious and slightly cynical bend of humor that saturates MAD.
Hopefully we bring some of ourselves to the table, and are not just pale imitations of the great ones before us. Using the language analogy, it’s possible to have your own voice even if you use the same language as another. I try and bring my own voice to my work. Taking the language I learned reading MAD and saying something of my own with it… that’s the best I can hope for.
Thanks to Nick Cirasella for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!
The iPhone hasn’t even come out yet before the copycat rip-offs start appearing. Here’s a YouTube video of one such device:
There are several things about this video that I find hilarious. First, it’s very accurate in regards to the opening of the package, as the ‘owner’ briefly glances at each piece and tosses it aside, including the manual, before turning on the device and pressing buttons. Nobody ever reads the manual! Second, even though there is an Apple logo (sometimes backwards) and the OS X look to the interface, when the device is turned on you hear the Windows chimes!
I still can’t call what will happen with the iPhone launch. Will they instantly sell out to people who camped out all night, or will demand be less than expected? The high price and the fact that you have to sign with AT&T are the main reasons the latter may occur. There are also some concerns with it not having a removable battery in such an expensive device. Many people may want one but will be deterred by a contract they already have with Verizon or T-Mobile. I am a prime candidate to buy one, as I have an aging Razr phone (one of the originals), use a Mac and am attracted by the compatibility, and am already with AT&T Wireless. Are there enough like me out there, even with the limited number being released? My guess is yes, there are. Also, do not underestimate the “competing with the Joneses” factor. Some people will stand in line, plunk down $600 for the phone AND pay the penalty fee for breaking their contract with another wireless company just to have the bragging rights. I still think that unless they roll out 3 million or more phones on the 29th, there will be more people in line that each store will have phones by midnight of the 28th.
I admit I am weakening concerning holding off until the 2nd generation of the device… the weaknesses of my current phone seem to be growing in annoyance. Every time I ‘sync’ my razr with my Mac some contacts disappear seemingly at random. I am always looking for a number on my phone that is suddenly missing. I finally gave up and just enter them the old fashioned way on the phone itself, and do not sync anymore so they won;t get deleted. Business-wise, having that information reliably synced between my phone and my Mac would be extremely useful. Also, text messaging is becoming a major factor in my park operations. My managers, employees and independent contractors use it all the time for instant memos, instructions and communications that do not interrupt us when we are either drawing or painting, yet is delivered reliably. My razr sucks with text messaging. I’d already have a Blackberry or similar if the iPhone wasn’t waiting on the horizon.
As The Lovely Anna says: “Stop fooling yourself, you’ll be at an AT&T store on the 29th and you know it.” Damn, that woman knows me too well.
It’s being held at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. on July 4th -7th. Like always, it’s chock full of speakers and panel discussions with titles like “What’s so Funny About War?” or “What Do You Mean You’re Not Animating Yet?”. They also usually con one of their targets into being the keynote speaker… this year is Democratic presidential candidate and veggie lover Dennis Kucinich. I don’t know how they do that. The convention was here in Minneapolis a few eyars ago and the speaker was Charleton Heston aka Mr. NRA. It got ugly.
One event they’ve got planned this year is “Cartoonapalooza”, where a gaggle of the nations top editorial cartoonists will discuss their most controversial cartoons, and other topics (like… SURPRISE!: politics!). Quite a line up, including more than a few Pulitzer prize winners:
Ted Rall, Universal Press Syndicate
Tom Toles, Washington Post
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal Constitution
Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News
Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Jack Ohman, The Oregonian
Ruben Bolling, Tom the Dancing Bug
Ann Telnaes, Cartoonists and Writers Syndicate
Keith Knight, The K-Chronicles
Mark Fiore, Animated Political Cartoonist
This part of the convention seems to be open to the public, as if you are in the D.C. area it is definitely something something to put on your calendar. Click here for more info.
Back when the AAEC convention was in Minneapolis, I happened to be president of the National Caricaturists Network and wanted to plan a summer mini-con in Minnesota. The AAEC had a panel discussion scheduled on caricature moderated by Bob Staake, and featuring David Levine, David Cowles, Philip Burke and Steve Brodner. Talk about a line-up! We were allowed to attend the panel as part of our Minnesota mini-con, and it was throughly worth the time. Brodner was a no-show, but the rest attended and we made pests of ourselves asking questions. The convention itself looked to be a great time.
The AAEC conventions have a great reputation as being informative, fun and full of fireworks… almost makes me wish I was an editorial cartoonist. Almost.
I haven’t done one of these for a while, mainly because it’s so boring to post what I’m working on but no images due to client confidentiality. Oh well, things are beginning to pile up a bit in the studio:
Scholastic- Full page illustration to accompany an article for their “Dynamath” magazine. This one’s a take-off on “High School Musical”.
CD Cover- Sort of. It’s actually for an virtual CD cover to accompany a collection of Sherlock Holmes audiobooks for Audible and other downloads. I should be able to post pencils and that image when I’m done with it, as well as a link to the audiobook production site.
MAD- 2 page gag article. Short deadline. Can’t say anything more, but it won’t be long until the parody I did in May will be on the stands, and then I’ll post some images here.
NCS Foundation poster art- I mentioned a few weeks back that I am on the board of directors for the charitable part of the National Cartoonist Society called the NCS Foundation. “Bo-nanas” cartoonist, illustrator and fellow MAD-man John Kovaleski and I are doing a poster to spread the word about the cartoonist’s scholarships the foundation is dispersing. More on that later, but the image is in the works. That I should also be able to post pencils and steps in the process.
In the meantime, I’ll be doing live caricatures today and a few days early next week at Valleyfair. If I remember to bring my camera, I’ll post some live caricatures on the blog… One of these days I’ll see if I can do a video of one from start to finish.
