It’s been almost four whole months since I started my new job and even though I was hired primarily as a web designer, I’ve yet to design and build a website from scratch. Granted that we aren’t a web design company, but it’s part of what we do. Sure, I’ve made a few tweaks and updates to the sites we currently maintain, and I’ve had the opportunity to create some registration pages and HTML email blasts, but I haven’t yet been able to do what I used to do multiple times a day at my previous job.

Did I really just allude that I might miss the old grind of daily website builds? I take it back. There are times I miss building websites all the time, and my WordPress skills are a little rusty, but I wouldn’t trade what I do now to go back to then. Ever. Unless the phrase “Million-dollar salary” was brought up.

Anyway, one of the perks of my new job is the side-projects that pop up from time to time. Our company likes to do things that are unexpected by our clients. That could mean delivering creative Thank Yous, or just finding out-of-the-ordinary ways to allow our clients to easily remember who we are. This is how the illustration above was born.

To thank one of our clients for letting us work with them, we created a mini art gallery of work using their logo as a starting point. Since they enjoy displaying and partaking in local art from the area, they were pleasantly surprised by all of the work we put into our pieces. I illustrated this piece by had, colored it using Illustrator and Photoshop, and then printed it in color on a piece of watercolor paper. And although the watercolor effect is missing in the picture above, I still think the piece turned out well.

Contrary to what you may have heard (or hoped), I am not dead, nor have I quit this website. Things have been a little more busy than usual for the past couple of months, and I’ve put off doing anything art- or blog-related for far too long. I know that I dust off that excuse quite regularly on this site, and I can assure you that mentioning being lazy and/or busy will probably turn up more search results that anything about art or drawing. I can’t help it; I’m a midwest slacker at heart, and I don’t think there’s anything that can change that.

The Life

My life has been turned upside down lately, thanks in part to my new daughter, Emerson Blue. Laura and I signed for our little bundle of joy on April 10th and it’s been amazing ever since. I could ramble on for pages about how this little girl has changed, improved and given meaning to my life, but it would just be the same things you hear from any parent; but it’s true! You’re sad when they cry, happy when they’re happy and relieved when they sleep for more than an hour. I can’t wait until she’s old enough to walk and talk, and ruin my shit.

Besides that, things have been pretty normal. We’ve stayed home more often and spent less money than we used to, which is definitely a good thing. Plus it’s really fun to learn to be parents together. Laura’s first Mother’s Day has come and gone — with an awesome custom-emboidered card from our friend at Lady Bear Crafts (go to her site and buy something!), my mom and dad enjoy being grandparents for the first time, and even Gordie is maturing into a fine young dog.

Photo via www.ladybearcrafts.com

The Career

I started my new job at the beginning of March and I can now say that I’ve never had a better job. I was hired to work on mostly web design, but I’ve also found myself doing a lot of print work as well. So far I’ve designed some t-shirts, a mailer and I’ve even gotten to go to a real printing to see how these things are really made. I’ve learned so much about the industry in this very short amount of time and I can feel my design skills and creativity are improving exponentially. Now if I could just stop watching Lost and get my lazy ass off the couch to do some artwork!

The Projects

There are always projects in the pipeline, and I’m sure there is always going to be something I want to do (see: may never finish). I’m so much better at starting things than I am at finishing them. If I could keep the creative train moving throughout the whole project, I might actually be able to make something cool. Luckily, I’m starting on something now that is being driven by someone else (kind of a client) and maybe the extra push from an external source will be good for my completion percentage. Right now, I’m looking like the JaMarcus Russell of comics.

The Website

Killer Robot has been updated to 3.1 recently. Hopefully you can see the minor aesthetic changes (see: cleaner) but there are a couple of other things I’ve added or modified as well.

Changes for Killer Robot 3.1:

• Tweaked layout for better readability, especially on mobile devices. At some point I do hope to release a mobile version.
• Added “Related Posts” to the bottom of post pages. When you read a post, the five most recent, and related, posts will be listed.
• Added Comment Subscriptions to posts. Under the “Submit” button on the comments form there is now a checkbox you can mark to be notified by email when someone posts a comment after yours. A verification email is sent as a double-check and it’s very easy to opt-out at any time. It’s also post specific, so you can subscribe to a certain post, but not all if you don’t want to.

A lot has happened in my life in the past few months that is going to change my life forever and for the better. Check back soon as I hope these changes will help me do some really creative things, and get some content on that Projects page.

Up until last week I had, according to LinkedIn, spent the past 5 years and 8 months working in the production art field of graphic design. Over that time, I learned a lot about design — mostly by teaching myself and by sharing knowledge with friends. I also learned a whole lot about what to stay away from as a designer. For instance, I will be staying lightyears away from spec-art and making sure I work where I have input on the creative process; not just from a client design standpoint, but a little about the company as a whole.

I’m not a big “quote” person. There is one I try to live my live by from C.S. Lewis about how growing up doesn’t mean letting go of being a child, but for the most part I don’t find myself connecting to things other people quote. I can really relate to conversations and writings between creative people, but I think that quotes are too often warped to fit the context someone wants them to fit. However, there is one by Picasso (more of a story) that I always think of when people don’t like to think of design (or art) as a real skill:

Picasso was in a park when a woman approached him and asked him to draw a portrait of her. Picasso agreed and quickly sketches her. After handing the sketch to her, she is pleased with the likeness and asks how much she owed to him. Picasso replies: “$5,000.”

The woman screamed, “but it took you only five minutes.”

“No, madam, it took me all my life,” replied Picasso

For some reason, people in need are perfectly fine with paying thousands of dollars to a man to fix their car, install a septic tank or even haul away garbage in a dumpster. But when it comes to designing something, or drawing something, or making something with your own hands, the same can’t be said for the payment. I know with web design, those lesser beings actually think that the computer does all the work. Or, just because something can be made quickly — without being physically held — they think it should be cheap. These same people though, seem to be okay with spending $75-$150 to visit the doctor for shots. That hurt. You are paying for someone to hurt you, quickly. What they don’t realize is like any of these other professions, we are trying to make money designing because we’ve spent time, sometimes years training to do so.

This problem completely applies to production art. Get it in. Get it out. Do it fast. Do it cheap. Make money. This type of business model doesn’t just hurt its clients with its mediocre product, it hurts the artist that is forced to make it. And it’s not just the artists’ skill that is compromised by being forced to squeeze this muck out everyday, it’s the expectations of future clients. Art that is produced like this makes it possible for someone to expect low prices and fast production. It allows clients to demand the impossible while forcing the entire industry to undercut each other to the point of no return.

Sometimes I can’t help but think, “Why isn’t design really treated like the trade that it is?” Sure it’s not a necessity like food or shelter, but there are people that will trek far and wide to find the best mechanic for their car, some without a single regard for the cost, or travel the world looking for the most perfectly cooked piece of fish. If only there were ways to show the people that partake in this cheap art the consequences of their actions. We need the design equivalent of a bridge collapse (without the casualties) to really drive home the problems this type of thinking can create.

Maybe trying to change this type of thinking is a lost cause, but it doesn’t mean that I’m okay with it. My old job doing production art taught me a lot about these things. It also made me appreciate the job I have now, with the art I get to do and the discussions I get to have about the design process. I think production art is just a way of life, the way Hot Pockets are a way of food. It will be there whether you want it or not, and sometimes you take advantage of it because you don’t know any better. Thinking of that old job just brings back so many bad memories, and I need to just let it go. I’m just going to think of it as my Ravenholm, and how I don’t need to go there anymore.

I still don’t know how I totally feel about Zombieland. I know that it wasn’t a bad movie, as I was laughing quite a bit while watching it. However, there were also moments during the middle where I was checking my watch like I was waiting for a a frozen pizza to cook in the oven. The movie had a lot of promise in the beginning. The introduction of the Columbus character with his rules was done really well, and watching slow-mo deaths were always enjoyable — that woman in the mini-van really should have worn her seatbelt. I’m also a sucker for low-budget horror/action flicks where very talented makeup people get to flex their prosthetic muscles to create some incredibly realistic effects. Between Zombieland and District 9, it’s nice to see some of this old-school style.

What killed the momentum for me was about halfway through, when I’d realized I’d seen this before. I had already seen the campy take on the zombie genre with Shaun of the Dead, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching a movie about Left 4 Dead. Four unlikely heroes team up to stave off a zombie-type infection while traveling across the country in search of a “safehouse”. On top of that, they spend the last act in an amusement park! With a clown zombie! And that’s why I’m thinking that Zombieland falls in the “average” realm for me. Originality. I can’t say it wasn’t fun to watch, but I can’t say that I plan to watch it again either.

What To Add It For: Art Direction/Production
A first-time director making a movie with impressive effects and really well-made setpieces on a small budget is to commended. The grocery and trader stores were made just for the movie.

What To Remove It For: Lack of a Scare
For everything that Zombie land was: fun, entertaining, gory and well-designed, it wasn’t scary and you never felt like anyone was in real danger.

Rating: 3/5

Image Source

About the Queue: I watch almost all of my movies through Netflix, either by mail or the Xbox Live Netflix streaming service. I thought I’d share what I thought of these movies, maybe sparking a discussion about older flicks or even get some recommendations from my readers. I write one to two paragraphs about the movie — trying not to spoil anything — sum it up with the high point and low point and give it a final review out of 5, as I would rate the movie on Netflix. And I want to hear what you think about these movies, so please, leave comments.

Welcome to Killer Robot Comics, Design and Illustration Version 3.0! I’ve spent quite a bit of time creating this, and I hope you enjoy visiting and reading through it as I did making it. For the past 8 months, I’ve been fine-tuning my WordPress ninja skills and this site is the fruit of that labor.

Let me tell you a little bit about what I’ve made here. This site is the home of my personal and art blog, my portfolio and soon to be the hub of all my projects and creations. The entire site is hard-coded from scratch by me, using the most basic possible WordPress framework as a starting point. It was made using a truckload of CSS, PHP and whatever help I could find in order to make my creation come to life.

With a little help from DOMTab for some Java in the sidebar, and IconDock for the free social icons, I have made what I think is the perfect home for Killer Robot. I know there are some things I want to add and change already — things that came up during production that I moved to 3.1 — but I think this is a cool starting point to show a lot of what I can do.

So please take a look around, try things out, comment on posts, and let me know if you think of anything you’d like to see added for ease of use, or if you see something that is borked pretty bad. Also, for the three of you that have subscribed to my RSS feed, you might need to update it.

And for everyone’s sake, please ignore the CSS behind the curtain. The file is a little messy and something to be cleaned up in a future update.

Thanks for reading!

Finally my home page is actually accurate! I really am working on a new website design. Currently, it’s in the early development stages (i.e. moving things around in Photoshop) but now that I have a plan and a timeline, I hope to have something new up around the first of the year.

Until this is done, I won’t really be posting anything new here — even though it’s been quite a while since my last post anyway — but once the new theme and site are live, I plan on coming back with more posts, more updates and more artwork to share with you guys.

While I’m working on the site, you can follow me on Twitter to get my latest updates and thoughts, and even if my new site can’t throw knives into heaven or dip ladies’ hands into acid, like George Washington, the new website is coming.

To leave you with something opinionated — it is a blog after all — here are some micro reviews of things I would normally post about:

Bionic Commando (Xbox 360): An incredibly fun and enjoyable rental even if the story is about as captivating as an empty trash can.

Iron Man (Netflix): One of the better comic book movies. The writers got the characters right, the designs right and the story was solid. The only thing missing was a more convincing bad guy.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: As I’m trying to talk myself into X-Men Movie-verse Deadpool, I can’t help but be bothered by the fact that there was a complete lack of blood in this movie. A group of mutants killing people with claws, swords, guns and everything else, and no blood to be found.

Pineapple Express

Not since the masterpiece Dumb and Dumber have two best friends with less than stellar intellect and decision-making skills made a funnier pairing. Pineapple Express starts out funny and ends in insanity. When Dale Denton accidentally witnesses a druglord-related murder and his identity is traced back to his drug dealer, Saul, the two men have no choice but to work together to out-run their would-be assassins.

When you start watching this movie, you expect it to be a slapstick comedy with some raunchy humor, but it comes out with guns blazing. Does it have Gary Cole and Seth Rogan having a machine gun fight in an underground weed bunker? Yes it does. Is Danny McBride running over people in a Daewoo? Yes he is. And it all wraps up in time for breakfast at the Waffle House.

What To Add It For: It’s funny, man.
This really is a funny movie. With everything from comedic dialog to over-the-top action scenes that are hilarious in their ridiculousness.

What To Remove It For: Low brow humor.
Comedy is definitely subjective, and while I love a crass-humored stoner comedy done right, it’s not what others may like.

Rating: 4/5

Coraline

Coraline began with a lot of promise. Right away, I was in love with the character designs – something of a mash-up between The Nightmare Before Christmas and the classic Rudolph animated movie. Every character was almost immediately likable except for one, Coraline. I just didn’t really care about the main character. Similar to the main character in the book Where the Wild Things Are (and I’m curiously wondering how the movie will handle it), the main character is really a brat and you almost feel like she gets what she deserves.

Yes, her parents are stereotypically inattentive and borderline neglectful, but she’s a kid, and sometimes kids just need to do what they’re told. I really don’t think kids need more reasons to think they’re the center of the universe. All-in-all, it doesn’t really matter since by the time the story picks up and gets exciting, you are rushed through the rest of the film wondering what the long setup was really all about.

What To Add It For: Spectacular animation.
The character design is incredibly well-done and the stop-motion effect never gets old.

What To Remove It For: Slow moving story.
It takes a while for the story to get going, and even when it does, not enough attention is focused on Coraline’s quest during the third act.

Rating: 2/5

Tropic Thunder

Dismally unfunny is really my best description of Tropic Thunder. For all of the hype of how funny this movie was, it did nothing but disappoint. Ben Stiller is really hit-or-miss for me, and in this one he completely missed, Jack Black is irrelevant, and while Robert Downey Jr. gets the most laughs, his character felt like a Saturday Night Live skit that went on way too long.

The only bright spot in the movie was a famous cameo playing an unexpected role. This movie could have been only about this character and would have been much funnier and interesting. It’s the only thing keeping me from rating it a zero. Maybe they should have let Bill Hader take a run at a bigger role.

What To Add It For: That one guy.
If you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that an overweight, balding dance maniac takes the cake in this one.

What To Remove It For: M.I.A. laughs.
While not completely devoid of funny moments, I was waiting for something truly obscenely funny that never came.

Rating: 1/5

Nerdcore Rising

This one is for all the nerds and geeks out there. Being a fan of Nerdcore Hip Hop (geek-inspired lyrics over rap beats) I was drawn to Nerdcore Rising since it is a documentary about the father of Nerdcore, MC Frontalot. The movie follows him and his band on their first national tour, and along the way you not only see that it’s hard out there for a nerd, but how there’s also a lot that is heart-warming about trying so hard to be a lovable outcast.

This movie makes you feel good about being geeky in that “they’re just like me” kind of way. Anyone with the same interests and hobbies with a love for music could see themselves in Frontalot’s place. Not only do you really want to see this band succeed, but it makes you feel good about being the nerd that you are.

What To Add It For: Nerds on tour.
Fans of Nerdcore Hip-Hop and MC Frontalot will appreciate the behind-the-scenes look at the life of a nerd on a rock tour.

What To Remove It For: MC in the front (a lot).
I was hoping to see more from other Nerdcore artists, but because Frontalot is probably my favorite, I didn’t mind too much.

Rating: 3/5

I try to tell myself that I am working on artwork on a regular basis, then I wake up one morning to find out that it’s been six months since I’ve opened a file in Photoshop. I’ve been “working” on Laura’s logo for over 6 months, and I feel terrible that it has taken me so long.

I love drawing and designing, and every time I sit down at the computer or table to do some work, I love every minute that I’m lost in those projects. It really is my passion and when I’m pen-deep in a project, there is nothing that makes me feel more productive. The roadblock for me is getting my lazy ass to move itself upstairs and get to work.

When the opportunity came along to take a couple days off work, I jumped at it. Not only did a want a much-need rest, but I thought I could use the free time to get back into my true hobby (i.e. not video games).

The image above is the final logo design for Laura’s personal website Sleeping Lion Designs. She’s amazing at sewing and makes these really cool hand-made purses and bags. She told me that she wanted to start trying to sell them online, so I got to work. I really wanted to create something for her that wouldn’t just be a portal to ship her stuff, but a place where she could show her personality and style as well.

She helped a lot with the ideas and design and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. The lion itself is completely hand-drawn and was digitally painted. I really wanted to capture some of the hand-made feel that her products have in the logo. I also think the font is a nice modern addition to the lion’s arts-and-crafts aesthetic.

Website development is next on the list, so feel free to bookmark it and I’ll post an update when bags are ready to be bought.

Most of the time when I start playing a game, if it fails to really sink its teeth into me or doesn’t seem that fun in the beginning, it ends up another discarded case on my pile of shame. With my limited free time and the never-ending stream of games to try, I don’t have the patience or hourly resources to force myself to play something just because reviewers say it’s “good“.

When I heard that Fallout 3 received multiple game of the year awards and was generally praised in the gaming circles, I wanted to give it a try. After I started looking into the artwork, gameplay and features — an action RPG with exploration and moral choices — I bought it outright, something I rarely do in this economy.

The problem was that I was so behind on the games that I had, I put off playing Fallout 3 until this past summer. When I finally got the chance to sit down with it and started my vault dweller, I hated it.

In the beginning I was having fun and I thought it would evolve into a game I could play for a while, but once I had been playing for around 5 hours, I started to become frustrated and wanted to stop. The game just hadn’t been what I had expected.

I told myself I would give it until I reached Level 10 to turn up the fun dial (another 5 hours or so). All I can say is that I’m glad I did. What started out as ten hours of mediocrity ended 100 hours later as one of my favorite games ever.

What It’s About

200 years after a nuclear war with China devastated most of the United States, you emerge from the protective world of Vault 101 in Washington D.C. to chase after your father, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Armed with only a pistol, the clothes on your back, and your wits, you leave to track him down.

What begins as a simple search mission evolves into an epic adventure that will take your vault dweller to the brink of humanity and back. Your decisions not only affect the lives of the people you meet, but the world around you as well, and how it all ends will be up to you.

What’s Awesome

Exploration Nation: The name of the game in Fallout 3 is exploring. The main storyline will only lead you through and around the smallest part of the world. Without exploration, not only will you miss sidequests and potential companions but you’ll miss a lot of what makes this world so impressive.

Shades of Gray: Many games have tried giving the player the option to be good or evil, but very few allow you to choose to live in the middle of the two. This game gives you the chance to play however you want. For instance, my character was mostly a “good” person, but would occasionally steal or play two sides against each other if it meant a better reward.

Have It Your Way: Would you prefer to have a gun-toting showboat, or a sneaky drifter? Do you want to wield firepower greater than anything you’ve ever imagined, or do you want to cut down people with a samurai sword? Do you want to be nice to peoples’ faces but rob them blind when their back is turned, or do you prefer to just kill them in their sleep? Any of these and more are possible. Fallout 3 gives you the chance to build the character you want to play: from weapons and armor to personality and behavior.

Side of Quests: The main storyline is fun and exciting, but it’s the dozens of side events and locations that really complete what it feels like to spend time in the Wasteland. And since the variety is good — some involve hunting and killing, others are collections or puzzles — they never get boring.

Art Deco-rated: The art style and graphics of Fallout 3 are awesome. Not only does the game look incredible, but since it exists in a reality that evolved radically different than our history, the style of the world is stuck in the 1950s. This means there are archaic-looking electronics that do extraordinary things, doo-wop music, and out-of-date fashions. Art Deco permeates the world around you: from posters and art, to architecture and vehicles.

What’s Annoying

Slow Start: As I mentioned before, I almost missed out on this game because it failed to grab me from the start. The game begins with a lot of clumsiness and really takes a while to get moving. It’s hard to explore at the lower levels and you find yourself outmatched in most of the fights. I don’t really know what they could have done to make a more appealing beginning, but I’m sure more than a few were scared off because of dreadful start.

Conclusion

For a game that received such high reviews, Fallout 3 really is very niche. It seems like it would be hard to find a lot of players interested in a Dystopian, Sci-Fi FPS/RPG hybrid that is slower-paced, challenging and long. You can’t just play shooter-style because it’s tougher that way, but you can’t just sit back and play the turned-based game either. A mix of both skills is needed to succeed. Overcoming the slow start is worth the effort because for your time and money, this game is a great mix of story, production, gameplay and graphics, and definitely worth a try for anyone who is a fan of video games.

Justin says: So good, it’s one of my top five favorite games ever.

Official Site

About Game Reviews: Since I usually buy my video games on the cheap, it means I don’t play them immediately after they are released very often and my reviews are “old news”. I know there are many reviews for the games I play already available online, and I don’t expect to be considered a review source. I simply like video games, and thought I would share what I think of the games I play.

Thanks for reading.

Football season is just around the corner — I’m talking NFL, not that sissy college stuff — and the excitement is building like it does every year. The only problem is that I’ve been a Bengals fan all my life. The team hasn’t been near a Super Bowl since I was in third grade, and it looks as if this year is going to be a long shot for even a playoff berth.

Luckily, my friends and I are heavily into Fantasy Football. Every year we draft our league and duke it out like the stat-dorks we are. My usual team, The Heroes of Cybertron, are sitting it out this time so that I can launch a new team into the fray. As the weeks go by, my rivals will learn to fear the name: The Fightin’ Corgis!