Concepts for the new site

I've had some visuals floating around for a while now that I've wanted to use, but not the correct venue.  I've really been digging the Steampunk look for a while now, and I can see doing a website in that style, and now I finally have my chance.  Here's a good explanation I heard for the concept = Mad Scientist Inventor (invention [steam x airship or metal man / baroque stylings] x [pseudo] Victorian setting) + progressive or reactionary politics x adventure plot = STEAMPUNK.

My new domain is in place (www.skulfrak.com) and there are some placeholder notes there already, but I'm going to sink my teeth into the new visuals pretty soon and hopefully make something visually exciting.  This is going to be my online portfolio for my comic and fantasy art, and I hope to do some all-ages desktops and comics for a premium area there.  Printing on paper is so expensive, and I have a good handle on the digital press now, so we'll all get to find out together if I can make it work or not.

The cool thing is that you'll get to follow along here.  I'm going to document my progress and post works as they are being done, and the thought processes that go into them (if any).  This blog is a part of that site now.

Thanks for watching!

A new Sandbox

Alright, it's time for me to stop naval-gazing and get back to being creative.

For ten years, I've run Brick House Digital, and in the last year, my wife and I have converted that to our animation and design business.  It's not been terribly active, but we try and maintain a professional air to it now, and my comics and fantasy art don't really fit there anymore.  It's been kind of frustrating for me to not have an outlet on the web to experiment and goof around with flash and html design.

I have a brand new sandbox to play in now. www.skulfrak.com  This is a site where I can create and get as goofy as I want without disturbing the business side of things.  I'm planning on linking this blog to it, adding some digital comics, some desktop wallpaper, and a few other things.  It will most likely be in a constant state of flux, as I love to change things.

Really looking forward to digging into this and making something cool!

June is looking up!

I'm really happy that things are looking up here.  I've scored two major clients today for the sign programming side of Brick House Digital, done an update for my web design work at www.falconrepo.com, and am speaking with several others with web design needs.  My equipment has been upgraded, I spent the last 2 months learning the newest version of Flash and adding a lot of new capabilities to my animation bag o' tricks.

Trish and I are headed up Michigan International Speeday to work for a week on the upcoming June NASCAR race.  I had an amazing time there during last year's races and met a lot of great folks.  It will be good to see everyone again and spread some more promotional material for BHD.

Trish has been learning Photoshop, and coming along very fast.  I'll be introducing her to Flash and Dreamweaver soon.  We've come a long way together, and are having a blast making our own business and watching it take off.

My son Kyle graduated from high school last week, and will be shipping out with the US Navy in July.  He's going to have some incredible experiences, and it will really open up some opportunities for his future that I can only dream about.

I'm hoping to find some time to get more comics work done, too.  Between Manga Studio, Poser, and Carrara, I have some pretty versatile tools that I can't wait to really explore to the fullest.

It was a rough few months, but hopefully that's behind us now, and we can get on being the best we can be!

More Flash work!

I've been spending a lot of time learning my way around Flash CS4 and Actionscript 3 lately, to better my animation and design skills.  I've pretty much come to the realization that this is where my future is going to be,  and I need to be second to none with my tools.  I already knew quite a bit about the artistic tools within Flash, having used it quite a bit for previous website work, but now I'm really digging into the scripting behind the scenes that makes things work, and makes things move around when the viewer interacts with them. I'm updating my main site, Brick House Digital, with what I can do, and got the core framework up today. I'm working on the galleries and samples now, and hope to have some simple games up before too long. Much more detailed games and animations are coming in the future though, so keep watching!