I would like to officially apologize for the blog hiatus. Stay tuned this week for some sneak peeks into what has been keeping me away from this blog that I love so dearly. I promise it will be worth the wait! And in the meantime, here’s the picture of my wife’s last ultrasound. I swear that baby did the robot the entire time. And I don’t know where the boom-box came from.
and the beautiful work of Charley Harper. So recently I sat down to try and harness that style with a little blend of my own textures and flare. It was by far one of the best times I’ve had illustrating anything. And now, I want to share my fun little project with you! I turned the lovely muted great horned owl into a nice wallpaper for your desktop background pleasure! Enjoy!
And feel free to suggest more sizes if you can’t get that to scale down correctly…
I really like Dane Cook. You may or may not, but bare with me for a little bit. This post is not about Dane Cook. It is about customer service. I have been thinking a lot lately about what customer service really is, and what it has become in today’s business world.
If you can’t make them want to stay…
Today in the office I was having a discussion with my friend Rob about what customer service really is. There are a lot of web-development companies who promise a lot, deliver little, and nickel and dime clients to death in return for mediocre work. Do they solve problems for clients? Yeah. Do they do it well? No. Just enough service to squeak by. I vehemently opposed the idea that companies with this type of approach to customer service can stay in business, but then I saw a tweet and it clicked. Just like that.
…Make it impossible to leave.
The tweet was from a friend of mine about switching internet providers; a recent struggle of my own. The funny thing is I hate my provider, but still haven’t switched. Why you ask? Because frankly it is a huge hassle. Someone has to come get my equipment. Someone has to come install new stuff. New bills. New contracts. Hassle. A company can have the worst customer service and a mediocre product, but I as a consumer don’t mind it because it’s too difficult to leave, and too hard to find an alternative.
Then I realized that companies do the exact same things to clients. They offer a product that isn’t the best, but they sell it well. And they also make sure that they own the platforms the product is based on. That way when a client wants to leave they can’t just go. They have to re-write all their content, re-build databases, re-upload photos. And they have to pay someone new to re-build their site, re-code the functionality, and re-earn their trust. As a business owner that is a hassle. And here is where Dane Cook come back into things.
During one of his sketches Dane jokes about people who can’t leave a relationship with someone they hate. When friends admonish the woman to leave the explanation is as follows, “my CDs are in his truck! I can’t just walk away from 40 or 50 CDs…I’m gonna take 2-3 years of abuse…until I can leave…with my CDs”
How often do we make excuses like that in our own relationships with service providers? It’s obvious something is wrong. It’s obvious that there are better things out there…but our CDs are in our providers truck. Sure it may cost some money to replace (I mean that’s a lot of CDs), or you may just have to let them go, but in the end the hassle is worth it. As a designer at a firm that specializes in well-thought-out and functional web solutions, I know that there are companies out there who will listen to clients’ needs, and craft a unique well-made solution. If you are a client in a relationship you don’t want to be in, I can promise the CDs aren’t worth it.
Besides…who buys CDs anymore?
I am a to-do list addict. I am the kind of person who makes to-do lists about other to-do lists. I am also a print designer at heart, so like many designers I am constantly filling notebooks with daily/weekly/monthly lists of projects and things to accomplish. It usually looks a little like this:
There are 2 problems with this. First, the paper lists pile up pretty fast, and steal valuable real-estate in my (already expensive) moleskins. I would much rather fill that space with sketches and ideas for my illustrations and work. Secondly, the lists are physically inside a book or on a piece of paper. I usually end up leaving it at home when I need it at the office, and at the office when I need it at home. I am forgetful like that; just ask my wife.
To solve both these problems, I have recently been using TeuxDeux, an online to-do list that allows me to simply list my tasks, and access them from work and home and anywhere in between.
The design is beautifully simplistic, which is perfect for someone who doesn’t need a lot of bells or whistles. You can add tasks to a specific day, or to a general list underneath, which allows me to track tasks both immediate and long-term in the same application. Tasks can be dragged from day to day if deadlines or plans change.
When tasks are completed they can be struck-through or deleted off the list completely. I like to just strike-through so I can look back at my list and (hopefully) feel a nice sense of accomplishment.
As an application it may not be as robust as others, but leverages it’s simplicity and price (it’s free) instead. It has definitely helped me take my to-do list addiction digital, and helped me stay on task in the process.
Check out the TeuxDeux site, and be sure to watch the awesome demo video! Or watch the TeuxDeux Demo on Vimeo.
Do you use something else to track tasks? Paper? Web? Feel free to leave your to-do list style in the comments below.
A while ago I had the pleasure of making some shirts for ArtKult, a label created by Tom Davis and Rev. Chad over at Wells & Co Tattoo. Hopefully they should be up for sale soon! In the meantime check out some pics below:
The laughing devil was an old sketch of Tom’s that I vectorized and colored and added to. The other is an idea of mine that I’ve had floating around for a while. The back is a latin phrase that translates to “What you are, I once was. What I am you will surely become.” And if you want a tattoo be sure to give Tom a call; I can personally vouch for his awesomeness.
So late last week I had the pleasure of working on a little neighborhood illustration for one of my current freelance projects. I thought it turned out pretty well and thought this would be a good opportunity to show a little process behind it! Drumroll please…..
1.The initial sketch is scanned and brought into photoshop, and re-sized to the output size. I also used the levels to make it darker. Text will go up above the town, so I left a lot of blank space up in that sky.
2. Color the trees using a couple shades of green
3. Color the buildings!
4. Add watercolor textures and color sky
5. At this point I decided that the buildings were a little too colorful, and wanted it to be a little simpler, so I kept the trees and sky and went with simple white buildings. And thus, the final product!
Hope that gives you all a little quick insight into my process for coloring and finishing hand-draw sketches…at least the digital side of it. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks I’ve used in my last couple projects!
I wanted to take this Friday to just share some of my favorite posts from around my reader as we head into the weekend. If people like the links maybe it’ll become a tradition, who knows. But here are some posts that I loved this week:
Illustrated Wedding Invitations by Oh, So Beautiful Paper – these simple illustrated invitations are gorgeous. I loved the color and the illustration is so loose and cartoony; it just really made the invitation light and personal.
Gilded Wedding Invites by Oh, So Beautiful Paper – the presentation of these is awesome. I love the folder the pieces come in and metallic gold makes everything over-the-top.
Pandora Rules by TechCrunch – I love Pandora and am happy to see it growing…also happy to see it still going after it had to find against the music industry so hard.
IC Shirt! by Grain Edit - preorder your limited edition Invisible Creature v. Grain Edit shirt. The illustration and shirt color are beautiful, and a great gift for any designer on your list.
Joakim Portfolio by It’s Nice That – I love this guys work!
Those are just a few of the things I’ve been digging this week. What have you been reading? Feel free to drop a link in the comments section, and I hope you find some things you like on the blogs I listed; they are a great resource full of inspiration and though-provoking articles that really push me to keep getting better!
This is the first of hopefully many Workflow Wednesday posts. To start off the little series I decided to highlight a program that has radically changed my experience coding websites, including this here blog. That program is Coda.
Program Overview
The only bad news about Coda is that it is Mac only. Sorry PC guys. It, like Dreamweaver, has a code editor as well as full ftp integration. You can simply and easily push files to your live server, and preview your code changes in the program itself. It’s perfect for a guy like me who doesn’t like to work locally and push things live, but work on my live server in its production environment.
Why Coda?
Like most web designers I learned to code HTML and CSS using Adobe Dreamweaver (I actually started off way back in the day with Adobe GoLive *ouch*). After using it for years I was underwhelmed by its complicated layout, usability and poorly integrated FTP/file manager. These problems don’t exist in Coda.
The layout is simple and intuitive, making it easy to find your way around from the very first usage. The site management is simple as well. Click the “add site” button, enter your local and remote site information and it’s off to the races. As a bonus Coda uses your site nickname as well as a generated preview thumbnail to let you easily and quickly move between your different domains or projects. These are the type of extras that really impress someone who is looking for something usable and beautiful at the same time.
File management is also intuitive and easy in Coda. Files can be edited in the right section of the program and then saved at will. The program keeps tracks of edited files that have yet to be uploaded, which makes it a breeze to get the files uploaded without browsing through your entire site structure. You can upload file by file, or use the programs batch of edited files. FTP transfers go quickly as well.
Coda has many other features that make it a great program, including the use of Books, which can append the program’s code-language library. If you have a Mac and are unsatisfied with your coding program give Coda a try. I know I’m happy I did.
For more information check out the Coda site!
I know that this is not the end all be all program, so if you like something better or have a suggestion feel free to leave a comment below!
So the guys over at Invisible Creature are also giving away free posters with purchases at their online store. Check It! As some of you may know IC is by far my biggest hero/inspiration in the design and illustration world. These dudes kill it. Always. Follow them on twitter for more updates!
Latest Tweets
A Modern Eden
Here’s a little sneak peek of my upcoming project, A Modern Eden. I’m currently working with the dudes at FORGE and the mighty Chance Graham to unleash some beautiful animal-inspired products for babies, kids, and adults. Prints, apparel, and even an iPhone/iPad app are forthcoming. Follow me on twitter for more details and sneak peeks of the illustration process!