General
May 26th, 2007 | Posted in General
It seems to be inevitable that I end up having to bring a job along when we go to the Reuben weekend. It never fails that some deadline is looming and it’s either bring it with or don’t go at all. Oddly, it almost always works out that the place I end up working in our room is the bathroom. It’s the one room in which I can work late at night (or early in the morning) with lights on and not disturb The Lovely Anna. It’s also the one place where a spill of ink or wash water, or a piece of kneaded eraser,… READ MORE
May 23rd, 2007 | Posted in General
Tonight is the big season finale of “LOST”, which I will miss because of… I also haven’t seen the season finale of “Heroes”. Thank goodness for TIVO. Now I just have to avoid listening to anybody discussing either show until late next week… In the meantime, as if anyone has the time to waste on a game as opposed to watching TV, there is a new game for the iPod out based on the LOST TV show. Just what I need, another possible distraction. LOST Game Screen Capture It looks extremely cool. You play as Jack and have to find food and water (and dynamite),… READ MORE
May 22nd, 2007 | Posted in General
The Calvin and Hobbes video I linked to a few days ago has generated a lot of discussion concerning copyrights and “fair use” on other boards that featured it. On the same subject, this video has been making the rounds on a lot of illustration blogs and message boards lately: It was produced by Stanford University‘s “Fair Use Project” and advised by Lawrence Lessig, a prominent figure in copyright and fair use law. It begins with the following disclaimer (done as a parody of the familiar “FBI” warning before all DVD/VHS films): WARNING: Federal Law allows citizens to reproduce, distribute, or exhibit portions of copyrighted… READ MORE
May 21st, 2007 | Posted in General
Regular readers may remember a month or two ago I wrote about the announced release of Adobe‘s Photoshop CS3, and how I was planning on not caving into the pressure to upgrade right away. I was planning on waiting for any bugs to be worked out and for prices to possibly drop a bit for the upgrade. Well, I caved. I got the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Deign Standard upgrade, with CS3 versions of Illustrator, Indesign Photoshop and the latest Acrobat a few weeks ago. I used it to do some illustration work for an ad job last week, which included a fully painted illustration.… READ MORE
May 19th, 2007 | Posted in General
Only once a generation or so does a comic strip come along that is embraced that it becomes a classic. Peanuts, of course, is the ultimate example but more recently Calvin and Hobbes fits that bill. It was a real shame Bill Watterson quit after only a decade or so of doing it… the art, characters and writing all blended to create something special. Even his “off” days, the ones where the gag was one of those weak ones, were enjoyable. This is via The Daily Cartoonist: This apparently was created as a final project by an Italian film school animator. I’m not sure how… READ MORE
May 17th, 2007 | Posted in General
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May 16th, 2007 | Posted in General
The next two weeks leading up to Memorial Day weekend are going to be ugly, and I don’t expect to find the time to write too many meaty blog posts. The Dreaded Deadline Demon will probably be making a few appearances. Last week The Lovely Anna and I took a grown-ups night off and went with friends to dinner at Chambers Kitchen in Minneapolis, after which we attended a benefit auction and concert for PACER Center, a local foundation that serves disabled children. Chambers is a new restaurant by famed chef Jean Georges, and dinner was excellent. I am sure Anna will be reviewing our… READ MORE
May 12th, 2007 | Posted in General
I haven’t done a lot of self promotion in the last few years as I am lucky to have several steady clients that keep me very busy, and I seem to pick up enough other jobs through word of mouth to fill in whatever down time I have. I used to spend thousands for ads in source books like Serbin’s “Directory of Illustration“, but stopped when I was constantly turning down work for lack of time. The problem with that is eventually even the best of client relationships end. Art directors change, the concept and look of publications change, projects end or any of countless… READ MORE
