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This year's Blog | 2009 | 2008
 11/15/2009:
Gothology and new art!
First of all, I apologize for
disappearing again. I have been in and out of the arduous
process of switching web hosts for all of my websites (including
this one), and I am happy to say that the transition is now
complete. All of my sites, including
Dorm Adventures and
Cardboard Things, are again live. Rejoice!
Another reason I've
been so scarce is because I have been devoting almost all of my free
time until recently working on my entry for the comic publication
Gothology Book II - Misery Loves Company. You can see my
preview along with some more information about the project
right here.
As for this site, you
may have noticed that I went back to my old front page. The
new one seemed kind of bulky and unnecessary. I've got some
new art up for display too, including new
digital pieces and some really cool
macaroni brooches I made a while back.
Fun stuff on
deviantART
For the uninitiated, I am
*Poj5 on deviantART.com,
and I post a lot of exclusives over there including sketches, comic
previews, and fan work for other artists. Around Halloween, I
started up something I'm now calling the "Secret OC Trades," which
is a series of organized art trades done in the style of a "Secret
Santa." In other words, artists sign up to participate and
they are randomly assigned another artist to draw for. The
person they are drawing for does not know who is drawing for them
until all of the works are submitted and revealed at the same time.
It's a hoot! OC, by the way, stands for "original character."
Most of the time, people request to see their original characters
drawn, hence the name.
The first one, "Secret Pumpkin," went
extremely well. "Secret Turkey" is now underway and I imagine
the outcome to be just as spectacular. Assuming something
catastrophic does not happen in the next week or so, I will be
hosting a "Secret Santa" followed by a barrage of other seasonal
things. Feel free to follow along and show your support!
 08/05/2009:
J. Jawson and the Predators
After a bit of a hiatus (which wasn't
really a hiatus at all, from this end), the website just received a
bunch of new updates
and I'm happy to announce the makings of my very own self-published
comic book, J. Jawson and the Predators. I've set up a
specialized part of the site for the JJP project, which you
can access either by clicking on this blog post's title or by
clicking here.
This is an extremely exciting time for me, because I am close to
accomplishing something that I have been thinking about and working
on since about eight years ago. A lot of wonderful people have
shown their support, and if you want to show yours, check out the
JJP blog or visit my new
and improved deviantART page.
You can also check out some brand new
Fresia & Ted art both in the digital
section and in the Fresia & Ted
sub-site. I have added J. Jawson and the Predators
digital work to the digital section, as
well.
Lastly, I replaced the "pencil" part of
the website with "comics," because of how rarely I work in pencil
nowadays. The new comic section is still a work in progress,
but I hope to finish it up in the near future.
 07/08/2009:
Free art tools review
I've been working on this for quite
some time, and I am finally ready to release my
10 free art tools review to the public.
I may go in and make minor adjustments later, but for now, it is
done. Enjoy!
06/25/2009:
You're all in for a real tweet
Per suggestion of a friend, I
have added my not-oft-updated Twitter feed to the front page of the
website. I have been looking for an innovative way to use
Twitter since I created my account a couple of months ago, and
keeping people up to date on the things I am looking at and thinking
about in the context of my portfolio seems like a great idea.
I can't say that my past career has been entirely pro-Twitter, but
hopefully that will change now that I have an outlet. I
anticipate a more rapid output of tweets now that I have something
to chirp about.
Economy blues got you down?
I am
reducing rates right now to try and pull in some extra
business, which is good news for me, and also for you! If
you've been thinking about a gift for a friend or family member, or
some professional ideas for your business/event, there has never
been a better time to look me up. Whether you have questions,
comments, sketches, or just something that you've been itching to
try, I would love to chat. My email is in the sidebar, so
don't be a stranger.
06/04/2009:
The Helios takes off!
That's right! I haven't
mentioned it too much on the site yet, but I've been working for
months now on a brand new project; a Google SketchUp design of a
fictional airship. It's super in-depth and the model is
gigantic, so in order to show it off properly I'm taking all website
visitors on a grand tour of the
ship. I encourage you to check it out!
In addition, I've added a few new
goodies to the digital section. That
section just keeps getting better with practice! There is also
a very cute new piece in the ink section.
05/16/2009:
Mending some holes, and some new art
I accidentally stumbled across a bunch of bad links recently that
were falsely directing site visitors into a really terrible, ancient
version of the blog when accessed from certain pages. In
theory, they should all be fixed now and should direct people to the
proper place (this page).
In addition, I've mixed up the feel
of the Other Work page a bit in order to
maximize ease of navigation. Projects are now grouped by
category, as opposed to in a linear fashion. Be sure to check
out that part of the site, too, because I've just added a brand new,
commissioned pair of custom-painted Vans slip-ons to the mix!
05/16/2009:
Fresia and Ted
With all of the art I've
generated for my original characters Fresia and Ted (whom are often
featured in the Digital section of the
site), it really seemed like an interesting idea to display their
legacy somewhere online. As a result of this idea, I've opened
up an entirely new part of the site dedicated to Fresia and Ted.
Check it out and see their fan art and a giant, previously un-posted
bank of sketches!
04/16/2009:
Site maintenance
Today, I fixed a number of things
on the site that I have been meaning to fix for quite some time.
First of all, the front page had been bugging me for a while because
the image quality of my splash graphic was extraordinarily poor.
Now, not only is the image quality fixed, but there's all new
thumbnails up there to entice you!
In other news, I have
removed my phone number from the site for security reasons. If
you are working on a project with me and need to get in touch with
me by phone, I can provide my number upon request.
I have added a few new
items to the sidebar that should show up on every page now,
including a link to my web comic and a link to my European
excursion.
Last but certainly not
least, I am going to be building a testimonial section of the site
in the near future, and I am looking for satisfied customers to send
me some feedback! If you have had a piece done by myself and
would like to write a short summary of your experience, I encourage
you to e-mail me. It can be as short as one or two sentences
and/or anonymous, if you would prefer! I thank you in advance
for your notes.
04/13/2009:
Dorm Adventures
again, and more
For all those of you who have been
wondering where on earth I ran off to, I have been working
diligently on my new web comic,
Dorm Adventures.
It's been a big job getting that website running on all four wheels,
but now I should have time to post new portfolio stuff more often.
If you haven't seen Dorm Adventures yet and you like my stuff
(particularly the digital stuff), I implore you to check it out!
Here's some of the
stuff I added to the site in the recent update:
03/14/2009:
Dorm Adventures
I am very pleased to announce my
newest project, an ongoing webcomic called Dorm Adventures.
The comic is an excellent public showcase of my digital work,
and a ready example of the progress I've made in sequential art
over the past year or so. The site is updated with a new
comic and accompanying blog post every Tuesday, Thursday, and
Saturday, and I am currently looking for ways to spread the
word. Here is a sample, strip #4 from the site:
Description from the site: Dorm
Adventures follows the lives of a spritely college student crew
as they learn the joys and woes of coexistence. Thelma Albacott,
the red-haired star of the comic, along with her best friend
Tamera "Tam" Perkins were both expecting acceptance into an
athletically-themed dorm, only to be rudely awakened by their
placement in a "cyber"-themed dormitory instead. The
encounters, relationships, and the challenges that every college
student must embrace are very factual basis of this (hopefully)
humorous, fictional comic strip.
If you like it, tell your friends!
I hope this strip will be meaningful for anyone who has stayed
(or will stay) in a college dormitory at some point in
time.
I would also like to remind
everybody that they can track an extended body of my work on
deviantART.
My DA collection includes everything on the site as well as
concept art, full-length comics, and fan art of my peers'
original characters. I am Poj5, so feel free to
follow along or add me as a friend if you have DA, as well.
02/20/2009:
Digital Innovations
I've recently come by a couple sophisticated digital drawing
programs, namely Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter Essentials.
These programs have added entirely new dimensions to my digital
work, and I encourage visitors to check out the
digital page to see what I mean.
There will be some new work posted in the weeks to come, so
check back. I'm continuing my pet portraits campaign, so
if you have a favorite little fuzzy friend, stop by
that page to find out more.
01/14/2009:
Pet Portraits!
I've added a new page to help get the word out about my Pet
Portraits campaign. Everything from pricing info to
correspondence options are listed there, so go check it out!
01/09/2009:
Europe!
I finally finally finally have my photos from Europe
available for the viewing pleasure of the general public.
Please feel free to check out my photos (and lengthy commentary)
right here. Also;
Some new ideas
As a new years resolution, I pledge to try and expand my
artwork to a much wider audience than it saw last year. In an
effort to at least start with that, I'd like to take this
opportunity to offer suggestions for a few types of artwork I am
fully capable of doing that may not come to mind immediately.
I mentioned some of these things in my last post, but I'm going to
re-emphasize them in list format now. I am available and
willing to do the following types of work (among other things):
-
Private
commissions - For birthdays, anniversaries, benefits, or any
occasion.
-
Family portraits
- In any medium!
-
Pet portraits -
I just finished work on a portrait of
two darling doggies,
and I'd love to do more.
-
Character
portraits - For favorite cartoon characters, in-game avatars
(for MMOs or other games), or for characters you may have
designed.
-
Painted murals -
Indoor/outdoor, anywhere in the Portland area (with
permission, of course).
As I say, if you can
dream it, I can draw it. If you have a far-out idea and you'd
like to know if it's something I can accomplish, don't be shy!
Drop me a line either by phone or e-mail.
In other news, I've
added a bunch of new pieces to my gallery. Here are a couple
of the highlights:
-
Ink - I've added a scan of
the piece I donated to Regence as a
raffle reward for participation in the KGW toy drive.
-
Digital - A plethora of new work
has been added to the digital page.
-
Watercolor -
A new watercolor of some cute pups at play was added to this
gallery.
-
Other - I
created a few tee shirt designs in association with Lonely
Dinosaur Designs LLC.
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