cvramen: graphic design, photo manipulation, web design, packaging design, and more

HTML: Good Times Await Us (Maybe)

2009-12-05T14:30:00.002-05:00

Looks like an update to HTML will be adopted soon.
http://lifehacker.com/5416100/

Of course, as with any web standard or new internet-related technology, there's no guarantee that any of this will be implemented. All this stuff is completely voluntary, and no one's forcing anyone to adopt HTML 5. A group of people simply reccommend that certain things be used by webpage creators (or not used). We'll have to cross our fingers and hope that the browsers won't be too slow in implementing this.

It's weird to think how long ago something as simple as this could have been implemented, but now, in 2009, we're seeing it. One won't have to invoke some universal, proprietary platform to view videos embedded in web pages. The era is almost over, in which ninety-something percent of videos play only with the blessing of Adobe. People will be embedding video into a web page without having to use any external systems Embedding video into html just using the html itself. Good stuff.

I've always found it contemptible that every time a browser is installed on a new computer, the user has to go to a specific website (Adobe) to download a file in order to have the abiltiy to view video. Video is so common that this should not be necessary. Browsers should just be able to do basic things like open video without any additional work for the user.

Let's just hope the browsers will adopt the video standard. Looks like the debate about how to do it is still going on. Looks like intellectual property is once again working to screw us, preventing us from getting browsers that play video without plugins. And, big surprise, it's Apple that's fighting for the cause of intellectual property and standing in the way of progress.

Some Thoughts About This Website

2009-11-26T23:10:00.000-05:00

Recently, I have had an increase in desire to fill this website with more content. I intend to use this site for my graphic design portfolio, but also have other content as well. A few months back, I mentioned that I’ve been coming up with a lifelong to-do list. I’m working on getting a few of them done, particularly I’ve been doing a little bit of game design. Adding lots of content that isn’t artworks I can insert in my portfolio may require a little alteration to this web site’s format (but that’s not something I’m not used to doing).

What the heck is this? A piece of a notebook I wrote on. I came up with an idea for a game in 2000 which I began work on in 2003. I converted the paper to digital format and this is one of the many ideas I am preparing for publication.

We’ll see where this takes me, but regardless of how it gets done, I do intend to start publishing some different content on this site. I mentioned a while back that I’ve been backing up old paper documents into digital formats and polishing them for publication. I’m on the polishing part right now. Perhaps I’ll get around to putting up my music-related content too.

I am going in a different direction with this site? Only time will tell.

11/23/2009 Portfolio Additions

2009-11-23T22:10:00.002-05:00

I added some new (and some older) things to my portfolio.

First off, a few unused logos I made for a tax service (whose name and number has been intentionally obscured):

Here's a fun little thing I did here: I redrew an image to vector format. Vector graphics are graphics whose appearance is determined by mathematical equations. The nature of vector graphics allows them to be enlarged to any size without any loss of quality. I'm not sure what this is a picture of.

A motion photograph of a pot being tipped over:

New Job and Website Layout

2009-10-10T10:41:00.003-04:00

I haven't done anything to the website in a while (I couldn't tell you how long it's been, but too long for me to bear). While I've been away, I've been doing some job searching and settling into my new job. I now have a full-time job working for a great company as a web designer.

Monday is Columbus day, and I've got a three-day weekend, so I decided to devote this weekend to working on the website's new layout. There are some visibility issues with IE6 and early variants of IE8, and this is unacceptable. I recently have changed my opinion on how I want to implement the website's layout, so I'm going to work on that over the weekend.

I have some new artworks I have been waiting to publish. I'll get those up after I alter the website's layout.

Pokemon TCG Cards on Ebay

2009-08-10T05:55:00.004-04:00

Well, the release of project five has been held back again.

On a more positive note, check out my ebay auctions. I'm selling cards I have in hand, from the latest Pokémon TCG set, Supreme Victors.

My ebay store can be found at this convenient URL:
store.cvramen.com

What's This? Project Five?

2009-07-29T21:55:00.004-04:00

A long time ago, I told you about something called Project Five. Due to circumstances under someone else's control, it was cancelled. However, it has been open up again. So, here's a little peek at Project Five before it is released to the public.

Good Linux Video Games

2009-07-28T01:37:00.005-04:00

I am proficient in Mac and Windows, but I also use Linux. I like it a lot, especially because of its open-source. One of the jokes about Linux, however, is no one plays video games while using it. Just for fun I did a search for "good linux video games". Check it out:

Change In Appearance #2

2009-07-27T00:29:00.002-04:00

There may be a change in this site's appearance. The site may go down for a few minutes, but this is unlikely. Pardon me while I work out the bugs.

Changes In Appearance

2009-05-06T15:34:00.001-04:00

Expect a slight change in the visual appearance of this website sometime soon! Perhaps by Sunday.

Mac-PC Equivalency

2009-05-03T03:12:00.009-04:00

I recently crossed paths with a person who looked at some of the artworks in my portfolio and commented on them. He liked them a lot. After telling me this, he said, "Was it made on a Mac?"

I wasn't sure what to say. Not really understanding any of the potential implications in the question, I asked him something like, "What made you think that?", leaving myself open to the possibility that there were some subtleties/vagaries in regard to the creation of images or the programs commonly associated with the OS that I was unaware of, that would make him think that the image was produced in Mac instead of Windows. His question made no sense to me, but I decided just for fun to to respond with "What made you think that?", just to hear what he'd say.

He said, "Because it was well-made. You know, they say Macs are good for people who like to create things."

The fact that the image was well-made causing someone to think it was made by a person using Mac OS is just silly. An image is an image. As my father once said to me, "A bit is a bit is a bit."

This idea of Macs being good for people who like to make stuff, brings to my mind, the Church-Turing Thesis. To give the short story, there were thought to be two ways to do things involving things that are computable (the Church way (involving recursive functions) and the Turning way (involving Turing machines)). Well, it turned out that, as long as you get the same output, it doesn't really matter which way you do it. Basically, they were equivalent: anything you could accomplish with one, you could accomplish with another.

Both Mac and Windows are written using programming languages that are Turing complete. Both of them can perform any calculable function. Both of them can generate the output the user wants. If the final file is something you can imagine, it can be done, in either operating system.* That final .JPG file is, ultimately just a bunch of ones and zeroes that one may generate using whatever method one pleases.

When I was in my first year of college, I heard one of my (not art) instructors say that artists should learn how to use Macintosh because it's good for artists. Now, the value in being able to use an operating system is great, so yes, it is good to learn how to use it. However, looking back, it seems the reason she gave me learning it was a pretty bad one.

So, the superstition is that Macs are better for art folks. It is, in fact, a superstition. A person can make a image file, a movie file, a text file, a web page file, or a sound file in one operating system and then make the same thing in another. I recently read a page about creative software and found the root of this superstition about Macs- all these years I had heard misguided people saying that Macs are for artists, and I finally figured out why. In the late 1980s, when computers started to be seen as a decent tool for artists, a lot of the early software packages targeted toward artists were Mac exclusives or initially released for Mac (somewhat parallel to the fact that Windows is associated with video game players). So it all made sense, to me then, and I was able to put these years of hearing that Mac is a superior OS for art to rest and realize that it was all supersition. It also doesn't help that there are misleading "I'm a Mac" ads that imply that Windows is bad for making video, Mac is the only OS that can make photo collections, or Windows computers don't have a USB port that you can plug a camera into (those ads are pretty fun to watch, though).

Remember that a digital image is just a conglomeration of code. You can make an image (or any other kind of file) on one OS and then make the same thing on the other OS. Data is data. How did you make the file? Metadata notwithstanding, it won't make a difference.

Which operating system is better? Well, that's beyond the scope of this post. The point I'm making here is that the appearance of the output (that digital image that appeared in my portfolio) is not dependent on the OS the person making it used. The OS had no bearing on whether it was going to look well-made. It doesn't matter if you make the file with an abacus, a binary punch card, or a roll of paper tape, as long as you get the job done.

Now, is what OS you use completely irrelevant and not important to you? Are there no significant differences between Mac and Windows? Of course there are differences. Which OS you should use, you have to decide for yourself. Which OS is better? Can you get the job done with the OS? Can it do what you want it to do practically? Is it easier to do something in one than the other? These are relevant things to think about. Which of the ways to get from A to B is more comfortable for you? Which one is better is something that's going to differ from individual to individual.

Which operating system is the best for making artworks? The one that works best for you.

*Yes, this applies to Linux and other OSs too.

Anime Music Mash-Ups

2009-05-02T23:36:00.009-04:00

I am a fan of anime music. I've been surfing around the internets, getting my hands on whatever I can since around 2002. I really gotta say, I really appreciate all the advancements in internet and computer technology that have occured in the past few years. Faster, cheaper download/uploading, new systems for making web pages, new file sharing methods, and new programs for audio/video and new algorithms for audio/video compression. These advancements in some way, have proven beneficial to people in search of not-mainstream music.

Also, massive, user-centered, individualized, free hosting for video has been pretty nice too. This has led to quite a few people coming up with quite a few things to post on the internet. People have an idea, and they implement it, because they know they have a way to get people to see it (low barriers to publication). As evidence of this, the amount of anime music videos has gone up considerably, ever since sites like YouTube came into existence.

I came across a video of music from Naruto Shippuden, mashed up with images from Pokemon. I thought it was incredibly funny, and was somewhat impressed by the idea that someone would like a TV show that much. Here it is:

Naruto Shippuden-Pokemon Mashup- For the context, check out the 2nd Opening Theme from Naruto Shippuden.

I also found some others, which I would like to share. I'm not sure if there are enough of such videos to call it a fad. I guess so. There may already be a a name for this kind of thing that I am unaware of, so I just decided to call them mashups.

Death Note-Yu-Gi-Oh! Mashup- The 1st Opening Theme from Death Note with video from Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Super Smash Bros Mashup- Can't say I remember where the song is from, but basically a Super Smash Bros Brawl character montage. This is really uplifting music and video which make for happy combination.
Evangelion-Yu-Gi-Oh! Mashup- This a short clip from an episode of the parody series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged. "Zankoku Na Tenshi no Te-Ze", the Opening Theme from Evangelion is just about the most well-know anime song in the world, it has been mixed and toyed around with many times, and it didn't surprise me one bit to see it end up in Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged.
Cowboy Bebop-Evangelion Mashup- This "Eva Bebop" is actually a few years sold so, this mixing of anime music/video is not new (in internet terms). For context, check out the Opening Theme from Cowboy Bebop. For more fun, I'd also refer you to "Cosby Bebop".
Death Note-Sailor Moon Mashup- The 2nd Opening Theme from Death Note mixed with video from Sailor Moon.

John Stossel Does a Barrel Roll

2009-04-30T23:05:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine went to a speech by John Stossel held recently at Drexel University.

Those of you who know me, know that I am amused by internet fads, my favorite being "It's Over NINE THOUSAAAAAAND!", but only second to that is "Do a barrel roll!"

Well, this guy sat in the front row to hear the speech, and as soon as Stossel was over, he approached him with the nearest sheet of paper he could find and asked for his signature.

The ink was a little bit light, but as you can see, it says "Nicholas, do a barrel roll, John Stossel".

When he gave this to me and told me about this, I was laughing my head off. I am very amused. It would seem that the nearest piece of paper was a flyer advertising "End the Fed". I can't say I know anything about this organization, so you can just ignore that. Hats off to John Stossel for having a sense of humor.

Thanks Billy!
Thanks John!

John Cage's Water Walk

2009-04-24T17:42:00.004-04:00

It sure is great to be around today and have those massive, individual, video-sharing websites. There's a lot of crap out there on places like YouTube, but there are a lot of lovely things out there I would never have seen otherwise.

I came across a recording of an appearance of experimental composer John Cage. I learned a few things about this guy in my last semester of music theory in college, and I just had to see this guy in action. This was lots of fun to watch. A friend of mine described this video as "a punch to the balls of music theory." It was both funny (because of the comments from the interviewer) and educational. Test the limits; explore the boundaries.

This was way cooler than 4'33''.

Digital Desktop Background

2009-04-21T22:36:00.003-04:00

New artwork:
Full size here. 1280 x 1024

Pokémon Card Auctions

2009-03-28T21:38:00.010-04:00

Anybody who knows anything about Pokémon Trading Cards, knows that ebay is full of Pokémon auctions. I've got tons of unused Pokémon cards. After a painful struggle reading through ebay's sale policies, and interpreting them, I am ready to throw my hat in the ring.
I have started out selling just a few, but eventually this online store will get bigger. I've got hundreds of cards to sell cards for a long time (and that's only the rare cards!). Eventually, I intend to use this store to sell unique prints of my artworks.

I have been collecting/playing Pokémon since 1999. I am running out of room to store my cards. Wanna help me get these off my hands?
Great Encounters Hypno
Crystal Guardians Loudred
Legend Maker Absol
Diamond & Pearl Weavile

Kabalevsky Piano Sonatina No. 1 in C Major

2009-03-27T02:13:00.006-04:00

Just to give you a taste of some of the arraging/composing work I've done, here's a little something I did a while back.

It's part of Dmitri Kabalevsky's Op. 13, Piano Sonatina No. 1 in C Major. Arranged for Flute, Bassoon, Horn in F, and Trumpet in C. This piece has been transposed down a perfect fifth, to accomodate the ranges of the instruments. In school, they taught me that I should avoid giving the flute notes below C5. Well, screw that. I think the flute sounds great between C4 and C5. In fact, it sounds better than when it's playing above C5.
The score is here.
A recording is here. The work of some highly talented performers from St. Mary's College.

If you're interested in hearing the original, I was able to find a decent recording on youtube (the part starts at about 3:40 and lasts a minute).

I'll put this work, and some other works of mine up on the site, once I have my arranging/composition portfolio up on this site.

Obama and IP

2009-03-26T01:03:00.006-04:00

Stolen from Digg: Obama's Gift to British PM Ruined by DVD Zone Restrictions

It sure is something, when the most powerful person in the world gets screwed over by the outdated concept of intellectual property. Regional protection doesn't protect anyone. It's just a really good way to make your customers angry and an impediment to the free flow of information (the free flow of information is a cause that is very important to me).

I once tried to play a video game from Japan on my Gamecube console. Of course, it had regional protection, so my north american console wouldn't read it. So, I inserted a disc in the console that tricks the Gamecube into shutting off its regional protection (or something like that), thus allowing me to play the video game. This just goes to show that if the media producers continue to stave off "piracy" like this, their customers will just innovate, they'll just make the regional protection useless by getting around it. This anti-piracy measure is kind of like laws that restrict gun ownership: they only affect those who are willing to conform to the system.

I think folks in India could greatly benefit from being able to expose themselves to media from America. Perhaps people in South Africa could benefit from watching content from Colombia, or Maybe Iranians could benefit from exposure to Canadian media. Bring on the international exchange of information! Bring on media without borders!

Superimposed Photographs

2009-03-07T04:03:00.005-05:00

I added some artworks to my portfolio, including a composite of photographs of a ball rolling downhill, a tire suspended by a tree, and an amalgamation of different components of photographs of spinning Matryoshka dolls. They're in the "Photograph" section. Check it out!

The Past 2 Months

2009-03-06T00:56:00.005-05:00

What have I been doing in the past 2 months?
-New artworks. Coming soon
-Setting up my ebay store. Ebay is complicated. Getting through all the rules is no fun.
-Backing up some old paper documents in digital format. Some of them dating back to 2002. Many of these documents were of great personal value, and I have been converting them to digital format. Some of this stuff (in fact, almost all of it) will one day be ready for public consumption. I sure am glad I have a website. Some of this stuff may not necessarily be useful, but one thing's for sure: this stuff has been sitting on paper doing nothing for over five years and nothing will become of it if it remains on paper.
-Arranging. I am primarily a visual artist, but I enjoy arranging and composing music. A piece I'm working on is R*O*C*K*S from a 1986 album "Love" by Hound Dog (yes, I couldn't find any English pages for song samples from the album). I hope to publish it along with some other remixes/original compositions of mine. I may have to expand my portfolio page to make an entirely new section for music.
-Obviously I have alot of content that has yet to published. The trick is getting it ready and in a format for public consumption.

Solomons Sunrise Photo Trip

2008-12-12T21:17:00.009-05:00

I would've posted these earlier but, unfortunately, the day I planned to travel to Solomons, it was raining.
Anyway, here they are. Photos of the sunrise at Solomons. None of them are photochopped.

I wanted to share this with the world on my favorite stock photography website. Unfortunately they had some technical problems, so I posted them on dA.

Solomons Island Photo Trip

2008-11-17T04:48:00.009-05:00

I went to Solomons. The small business sector is a nice place to take a walk and look around. It's also very conducive to photographs of the sunset. I took some photographs of the sky.

You can click on any of them to see a larger version. I plan to go by this week and take some more photographs (of the sunrise!).

I regret to say I have no updates on Project Five. I may have to put in a bit of clarification for a previous new post however. Its release date was supposed to be September, but the customer that I was doing this project for held it back. Just wanted to clarify that before it looked like I was just being lazy not releasing it yet.

I'm Still Here

2008-09-21T00:57:00.003-04:00

You may be wondering why I haven't posted anything in a while. I probably should have mentioned this before it happened, but I have been moving. I'm still in SoMD, and still taking on new customers, so don't worry. I've been doing that, and taking care of something else, which I won't talk about right now (perhaps in the future), and those two things have taken a bit more effort and time than I thought they would. I'll just say that a mistake in my life has come back to bite me. I stopped watching TV, but perhaps I may have to make even more cut-backs in my life to get things done.

Project Five Update

2008-08-28T00:08:00.005-04:00

I began work on Project Five. It's somewhat ironic that I mentioned that a few of my other plans had to be pushed back to work on Project Five. You see, something else came up involving a customer that pushed back the commencement of Project Five.

But anyway, I started on it, and it is almost complete. It should be done by September 1st. Here's a little preview of the secret Project Five:

And while I'm on the matter of having things done by a certain date, I wanted to share some knowledge with you that I have always known, but a learned over again recently. I've spent the last few months thinking about ways to improve myself (not just in the computer art realm, but in life in general). I've been figuring out concepts that help me accomplish my goals.

I began work on a project a few weeks ago and did little bits of work on it. Two Sundays ago, I told myself that I wanted to have the project finished by the following Sunday. I stepped up and got a lot done. I, unfortunately, was not able to finish the project by the intended date. However, the fact that I got a lot of work done stopped me from feeling bad about it.

Whenever you do somethng, set deadlines; it gets work done faster.

Portfolio Changed

2008-08-16T02:46:00.005-04:00

Artworks in my portfolio are now in one of five categories: commercial art, other art, web art, documents, and photo manipulation . I also added two new pieces to "commercial art":

Down Time

2008-08-13T19:10:00.003-04:00

I'll be experiencing some down time today. It shouldn't be longer than 10 minutes. This website should still be functional but if it's not, my apologies.

I Worked On a Blog

2008-08-06T18:21:00.005-04:00

One of my customers had a blog and asked me to enhance it.

http://www.elegantthimble.blogspot.com/
I have read some of the posts and it is fun to read and funny. The owner posts regularly- check it out.

I enjoyed working on this project. If you are in need of enhancements (no matter how big or small) for your blog, contact me, and I'll see what I can do.

Print Ads Coming Soon!

2008-08-03T04:20:00.005-04:00

A few months back, I came across this link to a page explaining the Three Basic Steps to Get Your Desire with The Least Effort. I advise all people to read it, no matter what they do. The three steps are this:

1. Know exactly what you want

2. Always follow a straight line

3. Sharpen your saw

I've been working on sharpening my saw in the past 4 years in college, doing things outside of school to improve myself. I have number one down, but I decided to step up with number two recently. I've been trying to get in on some free resources to advertise, to spread the word about my website, online, but I realized I need to travel in a straight line. I was tired of waiting- I decided to get print ads in the local newspaper. Time to get stuff done and move forward. So, if you live in SoMD, you can expect to see this in your newspaper soon (yes, it's in greyscale, color ads are really expensive):

Someone asked me Wednesday what I would do with one billion dollars. That gave me a lot to think about, but I realized that there were some things on my to-do list I need to put on there. I would like to be able to finish watching all the TV shows I started watching. I, unfortunately gave up on watching television a few months ago. I decided it was a sacrifice I needed to make to make more time for my work. Yes, watching the news on TV is nice, but I can get all my news on the internet (a great bonus is that internet-published news is not censored/filtered like other more expensive media may be). When I get my life together, maybe I can start watching some TV.

The To-Do List For Life

2008-07-30T02:05:00.010-04:00

Someone recently asked me what my goals were for this summer. That is, what I intend to do before school starts up on August 25 (My last year, by the way! *insert super happy emoticon here*). I'll admit that it isn't very fun to think about what has yet to be done, but it sure is helpful to come up with a "to-do" list every once in a while. And I don't mean one in my head. I mean an actual physical list on paper that I can physically look at. I have this handy dry-erase board which I bought for my door at St. Mary's College. I ran out of room for all the items and had to make a column on the right:

But that day, I was working on my list of things to do, I had a thought: this list of things I want to get done is a short-term to-do list. I have kind of sort of been thinking about my "things to do before I die" list from time to time in the past 7 or 8 years (obviously, my number one goal is to establish myself in the computer art field). Actually, I've thought about it almost every day. The list I'm about to show you does not have everything; just things I can put words to now. Some time in the past year, I thought about my life-long "to-do" list and then considered an interesting fact: I will not be able to do all the things I want to do. I am going to die before I finish everything on my list (if not by old age, then by something else). Perhaps some medical technology advancements will prevent this from being true, but in the past few years I have come to accept this fact. I also have to take into account that, while I'm going through life accomplishing my goals, there, no doubt, will be new things that I want to do.

Anyway, I put some pen to paper yesterday, and here it is:

Produce a Trading Card Game- I am so fascinated by the concept of a TCG and have been for quite a few years. There are so many things that can be done with it, so many possibilities.
Create a Comic Series- I have concepts for stories. Lots of concepts. One in particular I think would be nice if illustrated. It would be published on the Internet and I would profit using the same method U2 has used recently (it's free, but if you like it, pay for it, and we'll stick around to make more songs). I've also considered writing a children's story in the form of an illustrated book.
Backup All My Paper Documents on Computer- This may be a simple task, but I haven't had time to look at it.
Become an Activist- and attempt to tear down the aura of legitimacy that governments have. Apolitical activism and education.
Learn Japanese- I'm really into J-Pop. It would be cool to know/understand the words to some of my favorite songs. It would also be nice to read Japanese Pokemon cards and know about them before they get released in the United States. I have this lovely kana chart taped to the side of my computer.
Prove to the World We Can Survive Without Intellectual Property- Perhaps by releasing content using the U2 method mentioned above. Intellectual property wasn't doing them an ounce of good. If you like my free content, pay me for it and I'll make some more.
Win a Pokemon TCG Premier Event- never done it before.
Become Leader of the Largest Pokemon TCG League in the World- I came close once. We were the 11th largest league at one time. This is within the realm of possibility. I am sure of it.
Do Something Noteworthy- you know, something that makes people remember me. Accomplish something that smart people will remember after I'm dead. Something that will get me my own page on Wikipedia.
Write Several Scripts- I have lots of ideas for scripts in my head. I should write them down before those ideas go away. EDIT: When I said "scripts" I was referring to works of fiction, not Photoshop scripts or html-embedded scripts, though those are nice too....
Discover the Best Way to Play Rock, Paper, Scissors- I feel there may be a way to play Rock, Paper, Scissors algorithmically with a noticeable level of success.
Finish Every TV Series I Liked Watching- I don't watch TV anymore. But if I get the oppurtunity to do so again, I would like to finish Slayers Next/Try, DragonBall Z, Kare Kano, Desparate Housewives, G Gundam, Knights of the Zodiac, Arrested Development, and Bobobobobobobo.
Learn the International Phonetic Alphabet- and learn how to type with it. It seems that this alphabet has a character for every sound. I like that and despise worthless characters like "Q", "X", or "C".

As for my short-term to-do list, you can see there are quite a few items there. I have some stuff to keep me busy. I can't help but be perplexed when I hear someone say "I'm bored". I say- there's always something to do. There's always some way to improve your life. There are virtually limitless things one can do with one's life.

Some of the items are more high priority than others. Some of them are going to be pushed back. Quite a few of them are moving to the back burner, in fact. You can see that most of my items were blurred out with a super-special-awesome Microsoft Paint (Unfortunately, my computer has a "fever" and I will be getting some "medicine" in the mail in just a few days to fix it. I would never use MSPaint except under strange circumstances.). One of the items I am very excited about, but will keep it a secret for now, has just been moved to the front while my other items will have to wait. One of my customers have given me a big job to do and I'm ready to tackle this thing head-on. I will henceforth refer to it as "Project Five".

The scheduled release date for Project Five is early September. Though I said some of the other items on my list are being pushed back, do not worry! All my current customers, I will still be finishing whatever it is I am working on. In addition, I am not at all turning down new customers. I am not any position to do that. :)

Live Under a Rock Much?

2008-07-03T21:11:00.007-04:00

I currently have a customer who wants help with a blog. A little graphic design and coding here and there.
I was talking to my mother about this yesterday. My mother asked me what the blog was for. It belongs to an individual. It doesn't appear to be advertising any specific cause, good, or service. It's purely recreation.
"Well that's pretty egocentric!" my mother said. Not expecting her to say something like this, I did what I could to justify the idea. "Well, people have stories and they would like to share them. Interesting stories. Funny stories. Inspiring stories. Things that people often do want to hear. There are many blogs out there in the blog world, that are owned by individuals that have purpose but recreation."
"Why would someone want to have a website about themself?"
"Some bloggers have fans. On some blogs, there are places for readers to post comments and many blogs, if the user posts regularly and puts effort into it, do have fans and lots of replies to their posts.
The internet is a great place to preserve one's anonymity. Many blogs are anonymous. People will visit a blog, read the content, and have fun doing it, reading someone else's interesting stories."

She still didn't get it. Ever had any experiences with someone who's been "living under a rock" who hears about a new concept/technology and can't make heads or tails of it or just thinks it's stupid?

The fact of the matter is, that blogs have been a way for people to anonymously post things about their lives. People had diaries that they had locked up in their rooms, but now thanks to technology, they can share details about their personal lives without anybody knowing about it. Very conservative people or otherwise people who wouldn't write diaries are doing it now and other people are entertained by the posts of bloggers. If I recall correctly, there was a well-known movie about one or two years ago that was based on the blog posts of a young man from Tokyo. People are making movies based on blogs. The fad is catching on; They won't be goin' away for a while.

Fun With Logarithmic Graphs!

2008-06-27T10:18:00.008-04:00

In the past few weeks, I've been posting résumés online. I have been working on indexing this website.

A few months ago, I made a graph involving probabilities in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Probability is my favorite branch of mathematics.

I have another such graph planned only this one will not involve literal percentages; it most likely be logarithmic. I will post it here when I'm done!

Soon I will work on getting all my artworks on this site, including the stuff I've done for Pokémon, but first I may have to get my portfolio into different categories. Especially a section for "before and after" images for photo manipulation; I definitely want to work on getting that up.

Going Down the Right Path?

2008-06-05T19:35:00.007-04:00

Have you ever had the feeling you should be doing something else with your life?
I heard something that really touched my heart yesterday.
I was watching The Big Idea on MSNBC last night. There was a segment about success in life. The anchor interviewed a person who was going down a path that did not bring happiness in his life. He decided to pursue a conventional job in an open field with easy, steady income, just as he thought he was "supposed" to do. Along the way, he discovered that he was unhappy and started having thoughts about his favorite thing to do.
He said something like, "I realized that this was my passion. This is what I've always wanted to do." He knew it would be risky to change careers, but, "I'm going to start doing it and the money will have to follow."
His decision paid off.

He went to law school to get a safe job with easy money then became a corporate lawyer. But he enjoyed building artworks with legos. He knew very well it would be unusual to start his own business and profit from building with lego bricks, but he didn't let that get in the way. He started enjoying his job and is very happy with where he is in life now.

I'm happy that I chose to do things I like and not let the lure of a career in a secure field get in the way. I went to college to do art and I feel it was definitely a better choice than other fields. I am happy with that choice.

Always consider whether you're going down the right path. I can think of times in my life when I considered whether I was making the best choices. Think about whether you're happy or not. Whenever I do it, even if I realize I made a mistake, I felt better after, knowing that I had a higher level of understanding and could learn from the mistakes of the past.

Hurray for the entrepreneurial spirit!
A thank you to Derek Anderson, my 12th grade Advanced Acting teacher who persuaded me to not take theatre in college. Looking back, that would not have brought me happiness.

On to this website: I am currently working on publicity of this website. And of course, I'm always working on creating new artworks.

Nkirkpatrick.com Now Online!

2008-05-29T01:01:00.006-04:00

Welcome! This is the first public version of my website. Nkirkpatrick.com is finally online. I'm really happy that it's up. I've been wanting to get this thing ready and online for a while but it always seemed there was something in the way.

I tell my friends that this website is like a big rock. I am trying to push this rock up a hill. When I get it to the top of the hill, it's going to feel so good and I can finally move on with my life. This website (the fact that I did not have it online yet) has caused a lot of trouble for me. But now it's finally up and I am ready to make use of it!

Expect me to update this site with new artworks and new features from time to time.

At the home page, you can see an example of my latest work. You can double-click on it if you' like to see the full version. Let me know if there are any broken links or if you notice anything wrong with the site.

Looking for Work

2008-05-28T20:51:00.005-04:00

What is this website all about? I'm a computer artist from Southern Maryland. I am looking for work. It helps to have online examples of my work I can point to. Who am I? Below is a bio from a previous version of my website:

"My interest in computer art was activated in 1996, when I saw a program on my computer that came with Windows 98, known as Microsoft Paint. In my ignorance, I thought it was a game, as it resembled a video game I played as a child, Mario Paint. Only a few years later, I discovered its practical uses. I remember using it for practical jokes; I tricked my 9th grade Spanish teacher into believing that I once traveled to Panama.

In high school, I stepped into the realm of non-recreational use of computer art (I also evolved past using Microsoft Paint). I was able to make graphics to help me in many assignments. I could reach levels of efficiency I had never experienced without computers.

After high school, I acquired 59 credits at the College of Southern Maryland. I was accepted to St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2006, and have been allowed to seek a student-designed major in Computer Art."

Anyway, I'm looking for work. You can see examples of my art on the portfolio page. You can take a look at my résumé too. I'm always interested in finding new things to do. If you are interested in hiring me, my email address is nicholaskirkpatrick@hotmail.com