Rob's spot on Blogspot

Moving on...

2011-04-06T01:20:00.001+01:00

I think I've found something else that better suits my needs for a (collaborative) blogging experience.
For now, this will be my last post here.
If you have any bookmarks saved that link to here, please can you redirect it to my Tumblr blog.

Thanks for looking and following. Hopefully see you on the other channel. TTFN

Empire of the Binary Sun

2011-04-01T09:56:00.000+01:00

Empire of the Binary Sun

My first version Star Wars mash-up of ‘Empire of the Sun’.
I’ll be doing further work on this one to turn it into a printable t-shirt (I hope).

Joke of the day

2011-03-30T11:03:00.000+01:00

Via a friend on Facebook:

I said to my mate, "I just watched that film about the Nazis.

"He said, "Oh what, the one with Adolf in?"

I said, "No mate, you're thinking of 'Flipper', this was just about the Nazis.

Somewhere, Over the Programs ♪♫

2011-03-29T15:29:00.000+01:00

'Race the Rainbow' by Eozen

Sci-fi, and colour theory. What a wonderful mix.

Self-certified toyhead, graphic designer, dabbling photog, erstwhile entrepreneur, devourer of all media, Eozen's designs range from geeky to nerdy to not-so-geeky or nerdy.

You can see more of Eozen's designs on RedBubble and The Secret Life of Plastic on Tumblr.

['Race the Rainbow' © Eozen]

Phew... what a weekend!

2011-03-28T15:46:00.005+01:00

Saturday morning kicked off with a message from a friend about some activity on my 'Doctor Pooh' design that I had posted up to Shirtoid [Web, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook].
Shirtoid had decided my design was good enough not only to put up on their webpage, but to also blog on Tumblr... and that's where it all started. I have received so many messages and compliments about the design, it's really taken me by surprise.
So, I would like to say a massive ...

"THANK YOU"

... to Shirtoid. I hope one day I can repay your awesome kindness.

In other news, I have a few more designs that I have uploaded to RedBubble and Qwertee.

'Cylon #5318008'

Another Battlestar Galactica design, 'Cylon 5318008'. (Boring maths lesson + Calculator) + BSG 1978 Cylon = BSG 2004 Cylon. This one is available for sale on Redbubble and for voting on Qwertee.

The following are only (currently) available on RedBubble (I'll update this as soon as I submit to Qwertee).

'HundredAcre(Torch)Wood' (black/white)

I have created two versions of this design so it can be viewed on both light, and dark shirts.

Here <-- for the 'white logo' version (for dark shirts).
Here <-- for the 'black logo' version (for light shirts).

'Captain Tigger Harkness'

Following on from my 'Doctor Pooh' design, I have created two versions of 'Captain Tigger Harkness' design too. The design that incorporates the 'HundredAcre(Torch)Wood' will print slightly smaller than the straight single character design.

Here <-- for the 'character only' version.
Here <-- for the 'character and logo' version.

Prepare for Equestrian PWN'age

2011-03-25T00:44:00.000+00:00

Clever design by Cassandrart who spent a fair amount of the day looking at customised ponies and had to do something about it.

I think it's time well spent. Certainly paid off.

This pun has been around since forever and I took advantage of it :B

'My Little Pwny' by Cassandrart

Design is at Qwertee waiting for your votes

['My Little Pwny' © Cassandrart]

'R2D-WHO & CYB3R-PO' by Captain RibMan

2011-03-24T23:26:00.001+00:00

I've seen a few of Captain RibMan's designs dotted around, and must say that I have coveted most of them, but this one is just...well, spectacular.

Currently available on RedBubble, but has been submitted to 'somewhere' for pickup.

R2D-WHO & CYB3R-PO

I'm completely blown away by this one, and will be avidly awaiting its arrival in screen-printed format.
Well done Captain Ribman Sir!

['R2D-WHO & CYB3R-PO' © Captain RibMan]

The Daily Mail has a Sense of Humour?

2011-03-23T23:27:00.000+00:00

I don't normally read the Daily Mail (link was sent to me by a colleague - honest!), but apparently so, judging by this article. So, next time you're out on the weekly shop, keep your eye out. Apparently, it's all down to Facebook users.

I can't bay-leaf it: Supermarket spice game peppering shelves with rude words

Quote of the Year (so far) 2011

2011-03-19T23:28:00.000+00:00

My quote of the year so far is from Professor Brian Cox on Twitter:

So, in short, anyone who thinks the #supermoon will actually do anything to Earth tonight is ..... A NOBBER :-)

Thanks Prof. That made me giggle.

"What are we going to do tonight Brain?"

2011-03-19T23:17:00.000+00:00

Personally, I wish my brain could come up with a better title for this post. But it can't; and that's because it's currently engaged in loving this design by Zort70 on Qwertee.

I can't tell you much else about this designer, but if they keep producing designs like this one, I'll keep voting for them.

'World Domination Tour' by Zort70

You can vote for this design on Qwertee.

['World Domination Tour' © Zort70]

Another Journey by Train

2011-03-18T23:57:00.000+00:00

So, I think it's about time I started putting some of my own 'real' artwork up now.
I've been having great fun with this blog, and hope you are enjoying what I have posted so far.

Here is the painting that triggered all of this (I suppose Facebook is to blame really, but that's another story - for later).

This is a commission that I produced for Sarah Walters; portraits of her and her husband.
The two larger panels are a little over 1 meter square, the other is about 40cm x 1 meter.
I'm happy to say that after a 17-year break, and a little time to knock off some of the rust, that I am very please about how this turned out.

So, without further delay, I present...

'Another Journey by Train'

Designer: ScottiRobinson

2011-03-18T09:56:00.002+00:00

The Multi-talented ("Designer, Skateboarder, Scribbler, Inker. Not all at once though.") ScottiRobinson caught my eye on Qwertee this morning with the following Robo-Cop inspired design...

'Ed Who?' by ScottiRobinson

... but I think you should REALLY have a look through the rest of his portfolio of t-shirt designs.

You can vote for this design on Qwertee

['Ed Who?' image © ScottiRobinson]

Starbuck's

2011-03-18T01:14:00.004+00:00

No, I've gone gone mad and started adding apostrophes where they're not required. This is the title of my new t-shirt design.

Starbuck (original BSG) is a Viper starfighter pilot, gambler, womanizer and smoker of "fumerellos" or cigars. He'd probably have loved his own casino.

-------------------------------------------

Starbuck (new BSG) is a Viper starfighter pilot, gambler, maneater and smoker of "fumerellos" or cigars. She'd probably have loved her own casino.

STARBUCK'S

Qwertee: Vote
RedBubble: View
DeviantArt: On a mug

Book: Separately together for now, then and forever...

2011-03-17T15:12:00.000+00:00

'Separately together for now, then and forever...' is a collection of three-dimensional slides produced over the past couple of years by Matty Stuart; "an extension of work that began many moons ago".

It is a medium that continues to demand Matty's attention.

Some of the images contain recognisable elements, but are mostly abstract; bright, haunting, organic, sticky, viscous, whirling shapes; reminiscent of satellite photography, weird and wonderful microscopic life or silicon structures, 60s and 70s psychedelic lava-lamps and oil projections. Completely fascinating.

This is a limited edition first draft of a larger book that he aims to have completed in the early part of 2011.
The book is available at Blurb, from £15.95 (softcover version). An on-line full preview of the book is also available on the site.

['Separately together for now, then and forever...' image © Matty Stuart]

'Audrey Hepburn' by Chris Cox

2011-03-17T12:00:00.003+00:00

Popular poster images of classic actors and actresses are two-a-penny these days, with the ease of which they can be downloaded and reproduced from the Internet, so it takes something quite special in this regard to stand out from the crowd.

This painting is one of those. Chris Cox has rendered a classic Audrey Hepburn pose with an airbrush, giving it a beautiful soft-focus effect.

Audrey Hepburn (Acrylic/Airbrush portrait 30×20cm) by Chris Cox

Chris is a self taught artist that has always loved painting and drawing and has been doing so all his life.
He likes to try anything in art and loves learning new techniques and trying new mediums. Chris mainly specialises in portraits of people and animals.
Commissions to draw portraits from photographic references are requested many times now and he enjoys the pleasure that it gives to people when they see their portrait of a beloved pet, children or of themselves.

To see more of Chris' work, please visit his website or his portfolio on RedBubble

Prints of Chris' work can be purchased from RedBubble

['Audrey Hepburn' image © Chris Cox]

Thank-you Vincent...

2011-03-17T10:12:00.000+00:00

Vincent Van Gogh produced approximately 900 paintings in three years; was highly emotional and lacked self-confidence.

He obviously listened to his own advice:

If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.

- Vincent Van Gogh

Truly inspirational.

Wanna see my etchings?

2011-03-17T09:37:00.003+00:00

Morning.

If you haven't already noticed, I have added a 'Gallery' tab to this blog.
There's not a huge amount in there at the moment, but feel free to have a look. Please let me know what you think in the comments. All feedback (good or bad) is greatly appreciated.

I'll be writing more about these paintings soon, and hopefully, posting up some new articles of work in progress. Watch this (web)space.

Hike 'n' Chully to the rescue!

2011-03-16T12:28:00.004+00:00

Bleee (Billy Allison) describes himself as "a 'slightly' skint animator living and working in Wakefield, Yorkshire UK (for now)". He has many great designs on his Qwertee page, but I love this one.

'Hike and Chully' by Blee (Billy Allinson)

Here's Hike and Chully... they'll do anything for money... no wait, that's the other guys, these guys will do anything for laughs (and bottle them up)!
Surfing the web as you do, I saw an image of Han 'n' Chewie in almost the same pose as Mike 'n' Sully... I just had to draw it and here it is!

I'd love to see this one printed, so click here to vote (registration required).

['Hike and Chully' image © Blee/Billy Allison]

Useful Blogspot Links

2011-03-16T11:43:00.001+00:00

This post will be updated as-and-when I find new resources that help bloggers (using blogger/blogspot) to fix and tweak their blog.
Of course, I'd welcome any input - links and resources that you've used that you feel would also be useful to others.

I had some posts that were pretty long and preventing the homepage from downloading quickly. I'd seen other blogs with a 'More...' link and wanted to do that myself. A little searching and a couple of 'OK, but not quite' updates later, came accross this 'officially supported' version.
Link: Read More is Official Now and "Static Pages" Are In The Pipeline !!! - bloggerstop.net

"Don't rush me. I think you'll find it's worth waiting for."

2011-03-16T10:06:00.005+00:00

"So's Christmas but you won't find me stuffing your turkey!"

This may not be a new design, but it caught my eye this morning and made me giggle.
A clever, reversed, take on the 'KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON' designs that are extremely prevalent at the moment (guilty).

Sid James and Carry On. Shirley Bindun?

Prolific [nay, obsessed - his words, not mine] t-shirt artist robotrobotROBOT has this one for sale on RedBubble for the bargain price of £15.12.

See more of robotrobotROBOT: RedBubble | Twitter

['Sid James and Carry On' image © Paul Harckham/ROBOTrobotrobot]

Look what arrived in the post today...

2011-03-15T23:58:00.001+00:00

Deus Ex (Mystery) Machina

Yes, OK it's one of my own designs, but I had to test the RedBubble service and quality - didn't I? I get another t-shirt out of it too! BONUS! ;)

Anyway, RedBubble review coming soon.

ALSO... If you want a cheaper version of this t-shirt, head over to Qwertee(, register) and VOTE.

Blogger Buzz: What’s New With Blogger

2011-03-15T10:27:00.000+00:00

Even as a new blogger, I'm looking forward to these updates.

Blogger Buzz: What’s New With Blogger: "Posted by Chang Kim, Product Manager.

Review: Qwertee.com

2011-03-14T12:45:00.010+00:00

Qwertee.com is another 'one-day t-shirt' site, but this time, based in Ireland. However, unlike its peers, Qwertee.com provide 'one-day t-shirts' that are chosen by peers and fans, based on a simple voting systems of one account, one vote.

Of course, like any other voting system, the voting system is open to abuse in the form of people setting up multiple accounts, but in my opinion, it's a better and fairer system; one that doesn't just let the designers post their submissions and then leave them to stew, with no feedback whatsoever.

Voting requires registration, but this is very straightforward, requiring only a user name, e-mail address and a password. That's it. You register, you can vote. There is no requirement for you to validate your account.

Designers are well catered for with the provision of a brilliant Photoshop template for submitting designs. Anyone with a modicum of Photoshop experience should be able to insert their design into the correct layer, select a colour and background (and any other detail they feel necessary) and export it to the relevant filetype (jpeg or png).
Designers retain all rights to their design, thus allowing them to be able to submit it to another site should they wish. Other sites also follow this model, but there are some that taking full control of the design.

Qwertee.com utilises social linking to Facebook and twitter. and a myriad of other social and blogging applications via an AddThis add-in. This enables fans to share the designs they like (or think others will like), essentially publicising both Qwertee and the design.
The number of Facebook 'Like's, Twitter 'tweet's and other 'share's are displayed on each design's page, though these DO NOT count as votes. So, if you like a design, and would like to see it printed (especially if you want one) then registering and voting is the way forward.
To further assist the designers, there is also a forum that enables designers to publicise their designs on the 'Promote' board, or simply put designs up for feedback (or generally discuss a design).

The Product
Qwertee prints on high quality, super soft and ethically produced cotton t-shirts. Then use 160g/m2 100% ringspun jersey cotton t-shirts. Ringspun cotton ensures the shirts stay soft even after many washes.

"Qwertee wants you to be happy. Both in life and especially when it comes to tshirts". They state that if buy a t-shirt from Qwertee and are not happy with it for any reason you can return it within 14 days of purchase for a free exchange, store credit or refund. Returning items is also not restricted to what you would consider valid reasons for return, such as incorrect item, wrong size/colour, printing or garment defects, etc. The 'Qwertee GuaranTee' allows you to buy their t-shirts risk free, safe in the knowledge you can return it with no fuss, if you are unhappy with the size, colour, anything at all really.

Qwertee provide a sizing chart for both men's and women's t-shirts so, you can be pretty sure that the shirt you but is going to be a good fit. They even go as far as to provide detailed information on how much your t-shirt is likely to shrink. By using pre-shrunk shirts to start with, further shrinkage is kept to a minimum but as the shirts are 100% cotton-based, shrinkage is unfortunately inevitable.
To further enforce the Qwertee promise of wanting you to be happy, extra care instructions are provided on the website to make sure you get the most from the life of your shirts.

At the time of writing, Qwertee do not provide Kids' sizes, but are hoping they will come in the future, basing this decision on the fact that child sizes are very expensive, so will wait until there is more demand for them.

The Cost
Printed t-shirts from Qwertee cost £8 (€10); no more, no less. Delivery starts from £2; anywhere in the world. So, for me, £10 delivered, is an absolute bargain.
Registered Delivery options with tracking are also available and you can choose your delivery method when ordering. For the best shipping rates order no more than 2 t-shirts at a time, if you want to order more than 2, place multiple orders.

The Website
As a t-shirt designer (and web developer as my day-job) I feel that the website could be improved upon in a couple of ways.
For designers, the ability to be able to tweak and update their designs would be useful. Obviously, this would need to be managed by the website, sending notifications to people that have voted when a design is updated. This would then allow the voters to leave, or remove their vote accordingly.
An 'at a glance' page, with the status and number of votes as design has had would also be useful - for both designers and voters alike.

As previously mentioned, for voting registration is required. My personal experience (canvassing for votes) is that most people don't want to register - not until the actually want to purchase. They are also lead to believe that their 'Like' will also count as a vote. The possibility of registering/logging in using an existing Facebook or Twitter ID, or the increasingly popular OpenID, and counting all 'Like's and votes together would benefit not only the designers, but the voters too.

The Verdict
This version of the website is the first live version, and while there are a couple of minor shortcomings, the site itself works well and all users (anonymous, designer or voter) are well catered for.
The products are great quality, the prices are seriously cheap (for pop-culture, custom designs) and the designs (once past the voting stage) are exactly what the fans want. As far as I know, for this kind of product, Qwertee cannot be beaten on price.
When it comes to designers, comparing Qwertee to other sites of the same ilk, I feel Qwertee certainly has the upper hand.
For other general users, the site is simple to use, though as I said earlier, to be able to vote requires registration. This also applies to design feedback.

Visit Qwertee.

Steampunk Alice

2011-03-13T00:43:00.006+00:00

This is a design by Karen Hallion (KHallion) that I saw on Qwertee and thought I should share with you all.

Steampunk Alice

Karen's Bio

Karen grew up in Nahant, Massachusetts, She began pursuing art as a student at Swampscott High School, and after graduating in 1991, she spent two years studying liberal arts at the University of Vermont, before attending Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. She graduated from Ringling in 1997 with a B.F.A. in Illustration.

Karen worked as an elementary school art teacher in Swampscott from 2003-2009. She also taught art at the Hathaway School in Swampscott, and continues to give private art lessons, and is enrolled in a Masters in Art Education program at Salem State College.

Karen's work has always centred around a general theme of fantasy, with a specific focus on mermaids. She is heavily influenced by the Art Nouveau movement, and Alphonse Mucha, as well as Audrey Kawasaki and Stephanie Pui-Man. Her work has been shown at the Off the Wall gallery in Newburyport, as well as the Gulu Gulu Café in Salem.

Qwertee: Vote
For updates on shows and new work, see her Facebook Fan Page. Karen also sells her work via Etsy.

['Steampunk Alice' image and Bio © Karen Hallion]

CUBA

2011-03-13T00:13:00.001+00:00

Another 'just for fun' idea that had been ratting around the confines of the old-grey matter for a while.

CUBA

Qwertee: Vote
RedBubble: View