Archive for July, 2007

can you hear me now?

An editorial piece for the Performance Edge Journal issue 2, on demystifying VoIP call quality measurements.

I’ve updated this illustration to create more depth by adding detail to the foreground VoIP dogs, and blurring the background into space.

a different kind of geek

Mr. Bee is a very famous archaeologist. You may have seen certain feature films based on his character, played by a sexy human actor. Mr. Bee may not be as ruggedly handsome as his movie counterpart, but he is just as smart and geeky in his vast knowledge of cultures past.

19th Dynasty pharaoh, King Amenmesses had a tomb decorated for him in the Valley of the Kings.The tomb was originally created for Amenmeses, but the decorations were erased and replaced with painted plaster scenes for the burial of a daughter and a queen. Why was Amenmeses not interred? Is he still alive? Such mysteries are the adventures Mr. Bee faces daily.

free fonts

Before I became an in-house designer, my projects varied greatly in subject and style. I needed to have a huge font library that consisted of everything that I might needed on short notice, so I spent a lot of time looking for fonts. I also have never liked spending a lot of money, so free fonts were the way to go! I’m providing a list of free font sites that I enjoy using so that you can find them in one spot. Some of the sites will also have Mac fonts. Please note that some of the sites require you to purchase a license if you are going to be using the fonts commercially.

If you don’t already, I suggest you obtain a font manager software, this will make using your new fonts much easier because you can organize and view all of them very quickly to find your perfect match without having to go through Illustrator or Photoshop’s font list one by one. If you are on a Mac you are lucky because you will already have the program Font Book, that will do just that.

Free font sites, in no particular order:

• typOasis
• Font Diner
• FontFace
• 1001 Fonts
• Acid Fonts
• 1001 Free Fonts
• DaFont
• Simply the Best
• Font Empire
• Urban Fonts
• Search Free Fonts
• Ding Bat Depot
• Font Freak
• Better Fonts
• Abstract Fonts
• Chank
• Creamundo
• High Fonts
• Free Fonts Now
• My Font
• Cool Fonts
• Free-Fonts
• Font Garden
• Font Shack
• Font Village
• Fonts 101
• Wanted Fonts

mini beach vacation

I left work a little early one Friday, with my co-worker in tow. We grabbed our men and headed to the beach for the weekend. We drove about 200 miles to Rockport, Texas, where my dad had a cute little condo in the country club. Spending time in Rockport was fun, but we also made our way to Port Aransas, which was very close by and had a bigger beach. I was afraid to take the Rebel XTi out while we were on the beach, fearing sand and moisture, but I did get take some photos while on drier land.

The condo’s back yard melts into the golf course of the country club.

We had dinner at The Boiling Pot.

Mmmm, fresh seafood and my first time beheading and de-exoskeletoning boiled shrimp.

Ginger was concentrating on her camera.

Kyle made a threat about McDonald’s.

David held my purse because he is a gentleman.

Then we all went out for some Blue Bell Ice Cream

The end.

discovery

cosmetic dentistry

From the time I was in the first grade until just a few days ago (that’s about 18 years, if you don’t want to do the math) I always had a retainer or braces. Two months ago, I started a long process of finalizing all of the cosmetic dental problems I have had since being born with a cleft lip and pallet. For the first time in my life I am not afraid to smile and show my teeth. There is still some work left, but I am happy and my mouth feels free.

poem

To find out a little bit more about the process of this piece be sure to read my Textures post in the how-to’s section.

photos of driving home

Central Texas is so beautiful. On Sunday I was driving south on the Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360) in Austin. I knew I would pass my place of full time employment so I asked David to take some photos of the trip with the Canon Rebel XTi, since this is my daily commute home.

I found a gorgeous photograph of the same area where I work, taken by someone a lot more awesome at photography than I am.

moon light

This is an unpublished cover for the book Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce, from the series called The Immortals.

I created book covers for this entire series and another one, called Emperor Mage, can be seen here.

free photoshop brushes

Whether you build texture maps for 3D objects, paint digitally, or create designs, custom brushes come in handy to speed up your job and save you extra effort. I’m providing a list of free Photoshop brushes download sites that I enjoy using so that you can find them in one spot. The brushes will include custom textures to create realistic effects, stamps, objects, symbols, and so on. Please watch out for and obey copyright laws on usage.

Free Photoshop brushes:

• Some of Dave Nagel’s amazing brushes, I’m not sure where to find his previous series, anyone know?
• Photoshop Brushes
• PS Brushes (not free for commercial use)
• User created brushes on DeviantArt
• Brusheezy Each download comes with it’s own Terms of Use.
• Tutorial Blog
• DarkWaif
• In Obscuro
• Obsidian Dawn
• Miss M Paper Lilies
• Blinding Light
• 500ml
• Hawksmont
• by Vered

What do I do after downloading the brushes?

Close Photoshop. After downloading a file, it will either be a compressed file (like a .zip), or a .abr file (which is the photoshop format). Decompress the file if needed. Once you have the .abr file, place the file into your Photoshop brushes directory, which will be at /Applications/Adobe Photoshop/Presets/Brushes/ or /Applications/Adobe Photoshop/Presets/Brushes/Adobe Photoshop Only/ or C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\Presets\Brushes\Adobe Photoshop Only.

Zoom

Open Photoshop. Click B on your keyboard to select your Brush Tool, or chose it from your Tools pallet.
1. Click the Brush Preset Picker at the top of your screen.
2. Then click the small arrow button pointing to the right to open your options.

You should see your newly downloaded brushes in this list, if not click on Load Brushes… find the file and hit Load.

Find the brushes in your list, click on one of them and click OK to replacing your current brushes with the new one. Now you can select the different brushes from your Presets and you’ll be good to go.

harry hotter