Goals and Progress

Many times I don't take the time to put anything on the blog because I'm working so hard on the book. Well maybe I'll take a few brief moments to expound on it anyways. I've been so spartan with my blog I haven't even taken the time to tell any would-be readers about myself, despite a blog being a virtual journal and supposedly a view of someone on a personal level. But it was for this very reason I abstained from a blog for many years. I always felt that it would impact my chances of finding a career in art since any would-be employers might have their perceptions of my ability colored by conflicts with my viewpoints. I just wanted my artwork to speak for itself, but the funny thing is that since most jobs (of any real worth) are gotten through networking and word-of-mouth how can I accomplish this without being more open? Besides, no one's going to disagree with me...right?

Anyways, back to the point, I am currently looking for full time work in art (all kinds really, though digital and 3D are my favorites) and my day job is in insurance. I'd like to say it is incredibly rewarding, but not really. It is a job that pays the bills (or at least some of them), and I'm thankful to be employed as I am reminded every time I see the unemployment rate. Too bad I can't give this job to someone else more interested in it and pursue my creative endeavors full time -- Come on LOTTO!! Win big money! Wait...I guess I need to play first, before I can win. Oh-well, hopefully one day. LOTTO winnings or not. But in the meantime I am enjoying writing my novel, even if only part time. The art is taking a bit of a back seat right now, while I'm looking to hopefully increase our financial standing. So onto the novel...

What's Your Word Count?

So as a writer how much do you log per day? Interesting thread on Absolute Write about word count/day. If you're interested check out the discussion. Some appear to get a little heated over the issue, which I can understand from a matter of paranoia that you are not living up to some standard of being a professional writer. It can be a hit to the ego, and a worry that you can't cut it if you are aspiring or an insult to the already-published.

Incommunicado

No updates? Am I alive? Certainly, just busy with the book. Been making good progress despite becoming derailed for a little bit to read "The Gathering Storm" (of the Wheel of Time series) -- fantastic read, highly recommended, Brandon Sanderson did a great job pulling together Robert Jordan's existing work on it, completing it, and polishing it until it shone with a brilliance.

UI Skin test for LOLapps

So this is a bit of a diversion from the normal types of art I pursue (I'm keeping my options open for full-time work as you can probably imagine), but about a week ago I finished a skin test for a user interface for LOLapps (an up and coming app/game developer for facebook). I think it turned out very well. They gave me the test after speaking for a few minutes on the phone saying it would take two hours. Well if I did user interfaces on a regular basis I could have probably churned it out in two hours, but only after the necessary research into the style they wanted. All in all after the research was done, I think it took about 4 hours. So not too bad. I'll have to wait and see what they really think about it later though as they have decided to put off hiring for the position for a few months - bummer.

There are a few things I could fix and make better about it, but I was kind of on a time limit of course. It was designed in Photoshop, with a few pieces made in Illustrator and Flash. What do you think?

Photoshop and Halloween fun

Having some fun with photos taken of my wife, daughter and myself from Halloween in our Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell outfits. I comped this together with a painted background in a pretty short time. Plenty more I could do, but I had to call it done before we went to visit the in-laws for a family dinner. It was lots of fun. Tight time tables can be quite liberating, and it feels nice to get something done so quickly.

Book Review - The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

So this is not a new book, but I just finished reading it after hearing about it from a number of friends. All in all, I thought it was an interesting and at times fun read. I liked it enough to want to read more about this land based in chaos and order, and I will chalk up some inconsistencies and irritations to a somewhat new author (at the time of publish - if you aren't aware, Modesitt is very prolific now but this book was published back in '92). From what I know of the author he had published some short stories and a couple other books by this time, but he may have still held a day job - making the tasks of being an author somewhat difficult as anyone trying can understand first hand.

This Epic Fantasy novel is centered on young Lerris, a potential order-master though he doesn't know it at first. Intelligent, but bored by the orderly life of Recluce, he is thrust into exile where he must discover and use hidden powers while he tries to stay alive long enough to discover his purpose. There are many things he takes for granted in life, and others he questions without fail, though he accepts his exile fairly readily besides calling it unfair.

Beta Reader? What's that?

Good post by fellow aspiring author Jenni Bailey on her blog: http://jennibailey.com/2009/10/21/beta-reading-part-one/ with a comment from me copied below in response:

"Good topic Jenni. Here I thought I knew what a beta was, which I guess I did, but funny thing is I extrapolated that an alpha would be a second set of eyes before you hit beta. Probably comes from my involvement in the game industry (where they have alpha and beta stages before going Gold - i.e. Done). Though perhaps that isn't wrong if you have someone go over stuff before you're done with the first draft.

Dictionary Dork - An embarrassing memory

The other day I was hit with a bit of nostalgia, thinking back to the "glory" days of Middle School *shudder*. I'll share it for your amusement, or perhaps so you feel a little better knowing that you are not the only socially akward one out there.

I remember back to Mr. Cuthbertson's Social Studies class - possibly World History, I'm not sure (strange I remember his name, I can't recall the name of any other teachers from Middle School). He asked us to define a word/concept, I rose my hand to answer and forever changed my perception of the man though it wasn't really his fault - you see up to that point I had found him to be a cool and knowledgeable teacher. In response to my definition to the now forgotten word, he replied something to the effect of, "Wow, that sounds straight out of the dictionary." Though it wasn't in fact. I realized as soon as he started to speak that I had made a grievous error.

Writers Beware

Good note by Victoria Strauss about your search for a publisher, and the perils of doing so in the internet age: http://www.sfwa.org/2009/10/victoria-strauss-the-perils-of-searching-for-publishers-on-the-internet/

I haven't done any publisher searching myself (yet), but I have done a fair amount of reading on the subject, and though it can be a contentious subject for some I don't think anyone can argue that getting sucked in by a vanity press (aka self published) such as Publish America is less ideal than going the traditional route. Some less read on the subject may not realize that vanity presses allow a writer to essentially get their book published whether it is a good or bad story, well edited or grammatically and thematically appalling. This may sound fantastic to some, but unless you just want to share your book with some friends and family, don't go there. Main reasons from what I have read is:

Hokum Attack Helicopter

Hokum attack helicopter created for Wild Pockets' upcoming game I-Copter. It is another low poly model at 4132 tris. This model is to serve as the craft for the player, so the higher poly count (compared to the regular enemy craft) is essential for closer views in the store and during any potential cinematics.
Made in 3DS Max and hand painted textures in photoshop (1024 - Diffuse/Specular/hastily done Bump map - no time for a nice Normal map).