Running Commentary

Public Information A3 NCFE Legislation and COP Poster

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 12:07:00 +0000

Here's the fun Public Information A3 poster I created for my NCFE Level 3 Course (Training & Education), an academic RQF-level course designed for those going in to teaching or training.
I hope it proves useful to someone. Mine's geared to those specialising in training in the creative industries.
I love training people to do what I can and the course proved both rewarding and useful in this regard.

Full-size PDF available on request.

Wix Pros & Cons (+ 2 bug fixes!)

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Fri, 03 May 2019 12:11:00 +0000

If you thought Wix was just for Hobbyists and Amateurs you're wrong. In the last two years it's sorted it's SEO issues and turned in to a fairly fast and realistic solution for even middle-sized companies.

This means anyone can use this cheap and fun platform to get a site up.
Not everyone SHOULD though and, if you need a website, you really need to understand why.
Along the way you'd do well to learn from our experience with Wix and avoid, or at least be aware of, some major pitfalls. With thanks to Lara Sargent, my co-pilot on this journey.

TLDR: Despite all the below, I'd recommend Wix as, without a career in web design behind you, it's your best shot at getting the job done and if you do have the skills but don't have a couple of weeks to get a site done, it's great.

1) At a time when Gradients are a hot design trend, Wix can't do Gradients.
Nobody knows what Gradients did to make Wix dislike them so much but it must have been pretty bad.

2) Many elements still can't be Cut & Pasted.

3) Many elements just can't be grouped (eg- Strips)

4) You can't style page elements as you would like. Want a border around that? Unless Wix thinks it should have a border you can't have one. Beginner-level CSS code will allow you to style most aspects of every element in a web page. In Wix all that goodness is locked away from you.

5) Font Awesome and Google Fonts are weirdly implemented.
You can use them (if you add them in yourself) just in a really inconvenient way.

6) Wix Support is terrible. I have several tickets in to Wix Support regarding how poor their Support is. I plan to make a chain of them when I have enough and link the most recent to the first, thus creating a never-ending Support Ticket Loop that will ensure the employment of Wix Tech Support staff for generations to come.

7) If you switch to Mobile View in the Editor it will make a rough job of sorting your page elements in to something like a logical, tidy order.
That's what Mobile View is for- it does most of the work for you but you'll need to do the rest. You need to remember though that Wix frequently uses Z-Index ordering to generate the Mobile View version of your site. This means that if one element is on top of another, the topmost will be positioned higher up the page when you switch to Mobile View.

8) You have no direct access to the HTML that Wix generates.
Wix Code / Corvid is a horrible way to generate all the elements of a website page that any web designer will be familiar with. You want a box with an image and text? Learn the basic languages of the web- HTML, CSS and Javascript and you've learned enough to say "make me a box with an image and text please". Hey presto, it's there.

In Wix Code you need to learn another programming language just to tell Wix to say those simple words for you. You can't pop the hood on your site and rewire it, you can't even access the code that makes your web pages without going to extraordinary lengths. To use another mixed simile, it's like you already know how to drive but have to become a hacker to just get in to your car every morning.

9) It's buggy and can crash, leaving you with no way to restore to a previous state.
Here's some of my favourite Wix bugs. Auto-save in the Wix Editor will record multiple History States for you, allowing you to go back in time to before Auto-save over-wrote the working version of your web page. It can be a lifesaver until it stops recording properly and leaves you with more than a dozen history states that are all identical (and therefore useless). The Wix Editor Colour Picker can go crazy, actually moving the colour swatches out of the way of your mouse pointer just as you hover over them to choose a colour. It's like it's trying to make your day worse. Try using Wix in another Browser to get around a bug, and switch back to the first browser if you encounter another.
The Mobile View Bug, though, will have you tearing your hair out in frustration.
Newbs to Wix will waste a lot of time trying to make the Mobile View of their site, struggling against the Editor to make a decent layout. Some may never stumble across this fix, as I did.

Fix Number 1: I found that hiding ANY element on the mobile view of your web page in the Editor then unhiding it will force the page to reload with (most of) it's elements reordered to respect your layout.
Try it. Switch from the Editor's Desktop View to Mobile View and you get to enjoy how the Page Anchor Bug drops all your carefully positioned Page Anchors to the bottom of the screen. Switch back and they may just stay at the bottom of the screen in Desktop View, forcing you to start the job of manually positioning them all again. Nice.

Fix Number 2: The order of work in Wix is- Desktop, Mobile and last of all, add your page anchors. That workflow will save you hours, or even days, of wasted effort.

10) Just because ANYONE can make a site easily in Wix, using a Template or not, that does not mean that they SHOULD. People often misunderstand Design and what Designers do.
Sure, a lot of it is making things look pretty and being creative.
A lot more of it is deploying a deep understanding of not only what looks good and why but also how to make things well, so they actually work. Because you can drag elements around in the Wix Editor and click to generate an (often poor) mobile version of your site you may think you're also the ideal person to check how well your site works across all devices and browsers.
Unless you're a seasoned web pro you almost certainly aren't.
There's just too much to consider and you'd have to do an incredibly thorough job, even if you did know everything to look out for. If you use one of the many excellent Wix Templates as the basis for your site you'll find this will stop being a lovely Wix Template from the moment you alter it. The more you add or change the further it will get from looking, and operating, like the Template you chose.

I hope this article helps someone.
It's got great SEO tools now and just remember- it could be worse... It could be WordPress.

Brighton Develop Conference 2017

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 13:16:00 +0000

I attended the Brighton Develop Conference on Thursday 13th July 2017 to research the games industry, and because it looked fun.
Surprisingly it was incredibly informative and a great place to get recruited, if you're looking for game dev work in the UK.
There's far too much to get round in even three days but that's all you've got.
From "Taking the Sound of Star Wars: Battlefront to VR" to "The Making of Horizon Zero Dawn", it's a packed event.

Here's some of my rough notes from the experience, as some folks have asked me to share them:

Want to start your game company up, legit?
You can get it done today for £6.99 with "Company Formations 247" http://www.companyformations247.co.uk/?gclid=COKuubfSpNUCFde6GwodK6UH1w

EGX = Eurogamer Expo (big in the Euro game sector)

Games to check out: Journey and Depression Quest, enjoy and examine the subtexts.

Jeroen Janssen of Happy Volcano (currently working on a game called "Winter") gave a great talk min how not to screw up your first approach to a gaming company.

What he wants to see on business's cards:
1. Name
2. What do you actually do?
3. Show me what you got!! Ensure you're showing some well printed imagery/urls
4. A picture of you, so he can remember who you were (these guys see a LOT of people).
5. A fairly good amount of white space, for writing down what a terrible/great person you were when he met you, etc.

Portfolio
Put in the effort- bells and whistles to wow, Behance is OK, though your own site looks more professional.
Show the range of your work- styles, etc.
Best work first
No filler
School projects/past experience work really help.
Evidence of group project work is OK, if it's clear what you did.
Personal work is a must! Interesting one this, he's of the opinion that it really shows what you're about, so indicates if you'll be a good fit for his company.
Do not be a one trick pony
No Manga- he's not a fan, but obviously if you're going for a job on a manga-style gameHere you should ignore this :)
Details: textures up close, details and close ups of artwork and assets.
Do not do the sliced texture overview shot- whatever it is, he hates it.
Show your work "in Engine", demos how it sits in context.
Be prepared to talk through your work- practice this with your assistants and minions :)

Emails
Include links to portfolio
Start date and end date for internships (mainly of use for students)
Attachments: no attachments, just URL to folio (other industry sectors and Art Directors may not share this opinion).

Internship fairs and business events
Research the company- what games it's making, who they are, what they do.
Show your work on an iPad (good for high-res work, colours look right for screens), charge your batteries- conferences are long!
Respect your assigned time slots.
Finish a piece of work, whether it's a game or groups of characters, etc.
Finished projects show you can complete projects to the appropriate standard.

Not all session notes are relevant or interesting enough to include here but I hope this excerpt encourages you to book your ticket for next year, it could be the best conference you attend in 2018.

See you there! :)

I'm in the press!

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Tue, 02 May 2017 21:43:00 +0000

I'm in Imagine FX magazine this month, check it out!

Schooled!

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 09:12:00 +0000

Got my Education and Training Award!

In need of Digital or Natural Media Art training, beginner to advanced? Just get in touch.

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Sun, 20 Nov 2016 15:45:00 +0000

Just enrolled at Chi College on the NCFE (Training to Teach) course!

New Business Cards

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 17:36:00 +0000

Just got my new business cards from Moo.com!

It's always good to get a new batch of business cards and this time I thought I'd give Moo a go.

The cards are slightly darker than expected and the waxy matt finish makes them difficult to slide out of the holder, or over each other- so budding croupiers may be disappointed.

On the whole though I'm very pleased and I love the ShowCase card holder too.

Moo are good value and you can have up to 500 different images on the backs of a single batch, so I'd recommend them.

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 12:46:00 +0000

Finally got my ducks in a row!
Just a quack, I mean quick, update while waiting for NDAs to clear.
I made this coat rack for the hallway and distressed chalk paint to integrate it with the Edwardian masonry elsewhere in the house.

Looks Like Rain

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 19:23:00 +0000

Last Sunday (1st September 2013) I sold a painting at a Silent Auction for the charity Give 4 Beth. I can't find the website for the charity but the organisation of the event was excellent with high attendance.

The painting was A1 size, framed, begun in emulsion and finished in oils.

A1 seemed a very sensible size for the painting. I'd thought I could just pop down a local charity shop and pick up a suitable frame for only a few coins. None of my local charity shops had any. In the end I had to make the frame too, with a wood router, from lengths of 2 by 2 timber.

The title was "Looks Like Rain" (consider your own interpretations of art/title).

It sold for £160, which was a good price considering the level of finish, expenditure on materials and time to complete. I'm very pleased. Not only did I commit to start and finish the piece but someone thought enough of it to buy it on the night.

As an artist, one is rarely completely happy with one's work. Someone once said we never finish work it's simply wrenched away from us. I wasn't very happy with the painting but the older I get the more I appreciate the need to let go the individual piece and focus on the development of skill over time. I did my level best in the time available, and did something for charity that let me keep working too.

Here's the photos:

The Lion's Mane

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 21:13:00 +0000

Just got back from my annual holiday in Helford, Cornwall. Had an amazing time. Snorkelling, rowing, walking, exploring the coast in a kayak, just lying on a beach- really made the most of the time off.

Stayed in a thatched hut- a converted Apple store (the fruit, not the computer retailer).

Saw plenty of squirrels and birds in the garden (even a falcon) and a massive fireworks display over the river.

Swimming across the river at it's widest point proved too much of a challenge, this time, but on the attempt I approached a beautiful old wooden sail boat with a pale blue hull and tried swimming down the anchor rope. It just disappeared down in to the green depths. There were some great underwater sun beams.

At this point it began to seem sort of like a recurring dream I had as a child. In this nightmare I'd swim out to sea at night and dive a little way down. Suddenly, in the darkness far below me, one vast squid-like eye would open and I'd race, lungs bursting, for the surface.

I came back up the anchor rope feeling something akin to vertigo. The water was so clear it was almost like flying over an undefined depth of sunlit green fog.

Eventually, I got about halfway across the Helford then tested how hard it might be to turn back. It was much harder to make progress the other way. About three times as hard. Figuring the current against me I headed back in, exhausted and feeling quite unadventurous.

Getting stung by a Lion's Mane jelly fish further in to shore soon changed that. I've often thought about jelly fish when swimming at sea but never seen a live one. Many years ago, there was a host of them on the beach in my home town, all dead. I was stung by a tiny one, only 5 inches across, though they can grow up to 7 feet.

It's no worse than a bee sting and, oddly, it really made my day! :)

The lions Mane jelly fish features in a great Sherlock Holmes tale- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Lion%27s_Mane

There's also a lovely model of one in the Smithsonian- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Jellyfish_and_shark_-_Sant_Hall_-_Smithsonian.JPG

Iron Dragon Illustration

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:51:00 +0000

The Key to a Successful Career in Art

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:54:00 +0000

This is The Key to a Successful Career in Art.
Many professional artists have written guides to breaking in to the industry.
In interviews they're often asked what the secret is.
Bobby Chui wrote the Perfect Bait, Donata Giancola said in one interview recently it's simply "Keep your ass in that chair" but as far as I know this is the first time an artist has ever shown the actual Key to a Successful Career in Art.

I made it when I was a student, it allowed me and a friend to stow away in a cupboard while the Studios were locked up at night and sneak out in the evenings to work late. I first got an impression of the original in modelling clay. Then I hammered flat a piece of Aluminium rod and carefully, just by eye, filed the blade to replicate the impression. It gave access to the Materials cupboards and allowed us to work late in to the night when we needed to finish projects that required more than just oils and canvases.
All went well until the Police turned up one night and turned on the lights in the photography dark room we were working in, ruining the Developing process.
Someone outside had seen the torches we used to find our way to the darkroom though small gaps in the curtains along our route. We were let off with "Informal Cautions".

And that's the secret- the key to a career in Art is you've just got to love it so much you'll do whatever it takes to keep at it. Essentially it really is that simple.
If you want more practical tips and techniques, stay tuned. I intend to post more on this blog and back at www.runninghead.com as soon as possible.

George Bernard Shaw wrote:
"The true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art."
Which is theatrical nonsense, but if you, or anyone you know is looking for more worthwhile, inspiring and entertaining careers advice about Art then check out this Neil Gaiman speech and remember- it may all have been done before, but not by you.

Creature

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:07:00 +0000

Lepus Temperamentalus

First draft of a new creature design, to demonstrate the powerful "Symmetry" functionality in Sketchbook Pro 6.
Fingerpainted on my iPod touch and cleaned up in Photoshop.
It's just a rough so be prepared to see it again after it mutates in to something more accurate.

Steel T-Rex

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:43:00 +0000

At Christmas, after 3 hours and much swearing, finally constructed this little fella...

I love Super Macro!

The grass is a towel on a radiator.

Raspberry Pi

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:41:00 +0000

Mmmm..... Pi :)
Guess what I got for Christmas!

My Raspberry Pi cooling on a window sill.

Jessica Name Illustration

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 21:11:00 +0000

Name plate illustration, for a child, recently completed.

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:29:00 +0000

Bored of seeing the same image on my blog but haven't got round to posting the holiday images yet so here's an evil zombie astronaut sketch to mix things up...

Sketch Book Pro 1st test

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 08:33:00 +0000

Sketch Book Pro 1st test- 40 mins total on an iPod Touch with one finger (no stylus required).

SketchBook Pro rocks.

SketchBook Pro doodle

DIY photos

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:46:00 +0000

Some photos of recent work on the house, before and after style.

First, the original fireplace, shortly after we moved in.

Room shell gutted.

Above, new fireplace.
Below, photos of some boxing in I did in what will be Holly's Library.

Photos of the original room door, stripped and repaired- if a job's worth doing it's worth doing Baroque :)

Leela sheltering in the woodshed.

Digital Art Equipment

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 19:43:00 +0000

Tablets are great and Cintiques are very handy, but there are downsides to both.
If you learn to draw on a tablet, then switch to a more cumbersome and expensive Cintique, you'll find it hard to switch back.
You'll be stuck with the Cintique. You can swap from one to the other of course but, for a digital artist, this can take weeks of adjustment.
Weeks that, if your creative work is your source of income, you just won't have.

If you're not used to drawing with a tablet and you'd rather not spend weeks getting used to it, then getting a Cintique makes sense as you can just draw on the screen and get comfortable using it very quickly.
Of course, your drawing hand can get in the way sometimes, obscuring what you're drawing, just like in life.
Not a problem with a tablet.
With a tablet you are less cramped in the way you work, though carpal tunnel syndrome can occur with long term use of either instrument.
My advice (having tried both) is to get a tablet, or if you do really have to get a Cintique, get the anglepoise bracket to go with it and change your drawing position regularly to avoid health issues.

Whether you’re considering freelancing, hotdesking or just feel like setting up shop in a pub or café for a while, here’s some recent developments that may be of interest.
They’re not all available today but they’re a lot closer to release than hoverboards (which will only become available in 2015).

The Sensu Brush
https://www.sensubrush.com/
The Blue Tiger Project
http://tenonedesign.com/bluetiger
The iPen
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ipen/ipen-the-first-active-stylus-for-ipad
The Inkling
http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?lang=en&pid=9226&gm=1

This just in (I mean I should have added it when I wrote this post in the first place!).
The Leap, from leapmotion.com:
The Leap

Also of interest- Muji (the Japanese goods chain) do a few interesting pens now.
1. Pen and biro in one (twist to switch between the two).
2. Erasable blue drawing pen (0.5 nib).
3. A 0.38 drawing gel pen for just £1.

Comicon 2012

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 07:07:00 +0000

Comicon 2012
Never been to one of these before. It's a real education. So much visual information everywhere you could easily spend the whole day and not see it all.

Some people indulge in what's known as Cosplay, though I think the above might more properly be called Fancy Dress.
Definitely one of the best costumes there.

Steampunk dude, made all his own gear. Some of the tiny machinery thingys were beautifully crafted.

Holly and a Dalek.

Got talking to these guys for a while.
Gradually it dawned on me that they're actually kind of famous.
Weird feeling.

Matt Dixons prices.
Quite reasonable so he must be getting a good deal on production off someone.

A Michael Keaton sized Batman.

Personal Projects

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:35:00 +0000

I'm adding a few images of my various personal projects to my professional blogfolio. I may reconsider this so check it out now before I change my mind if you're interested.
Subjects include ceramics, photography, cakes, poetry, lighting and sculpture.
My blogfolio

Snooty Girl Illustration Remake

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:08:00 +0000

Taking an old illustration and improving it with my current skills and tastes.

From left: Old (scanned pencil and digital colour), new (digital, black lineart), new (pale lineart), new (coloured lineart).

Perspective Drawing

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 12:09:00 +0000

Here's my comment on yesterdays post by James Gurney.

He's recommending several old books that are timeless, trusted classics for learning art.

James helped me find Earnest Norling's "Perspective Drawing". I'd been given it as a child and I'd forgotten both Title and Author. Since buying an old copy online I've found it just as comprehensive and useful as I'd remembered. As you progress through the book the charmingly vintage American illustration style walks you gently through everything you need to know in a very efficient manner. An infant would find the early pages understandable and a professional might find the final pages challenging. It really is a book that can serve you well for a lifetime in art.

View the original post at Gurney Journey.

Influence Map

noreply@blogger.com (runninghead) — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 20:44:00 +0000

Here's my Influence Map:

An Influence Map is a sort of chart of your artistic influences, the larger the image, the greater their influence on you.
Only those you've actually copied, studied and learned a lot from should be included.
No friends and colleagues included as I wouldn't wish to embarrass anyone by including them (or leaving one out!).

Download the template file from the creator's DeviantArt page at http://fav.me/d2vx881 and create your own.