Window Unto My Mind

viafrank:

“Do I need to know how to code?” is a question that comes up with sure-fire consistency in design circles. I’ve seen it asked by so many, from uncertain design students in classrooms worried about their chances of landing a job, to seasoned professionals at conferences seeing their pool of print projects slowly evaporate. The question is being asked with even greater frequency as of late, because Adobe has launched their product Muse, which promises designers the ability to “create unique websites without writing code.” So, if a designer wants to work on the web, should they take the time to learn this dastardly “code” or instead rely on software like Muse?

Read More

This is why designers hate Internet Exploder (Explorer).

Trying out the ScribeFire plugin for Google Chrome.  If this works well enough, perhaps it will enable me to do more frequent updating here.

A concept artist @ ArenaNet.  Seriously.

ArenaNet recently showcased a bunch of their concept art for their upcoming game, Guild Wars 2, at GDC 2010 (game developer’s conference).  They’ve now released this video in three parts on YouTube.  I’ve dreamed of doing this type of art since I was a very young child, drawing hot rods and Colonial Vipers in Mr. Lewis’ class with Randy (O’Donnell), Mike (Boat) and James (Thayer).

Anyway, check them out if you are interested to see what enthralls me so.  If the music selection is from the upcoming Guild Wars title as well, it looks pretty promising all around.

Namaste friends!

Health care reform.  Quite a hot and potentially volatile subject to discuss these past few days, given the passing of bill H.R. 4872.  There are some strong feelings on this matter, both for and against.  People have concerns about a great number of things related to this reform, and deservedly so.  This is a big step for us as a nation.

My intent of posting here is to provide a number of links to which my family and friends may read more about the impending reform, so that they may make reasoned and intelligent decisions and conclusions in regards to how it will affect them and their families. 

Please keep in mind, that there is a lot of hate mongering and divisiveness surrounding this topic.  People screaming “socialism” and “the beginning of the end”, etc. blah blah.  They have every right to do so.  My challenge to you and to them, is to provide factual proof and citation in the written word of this bill and it’s addendum as to where these claims of socialism and other looming atrocities are stated.

Think for yourself, form your own opinion and stance on the matter.  That being said, here are the links that I was able to dig up this evening.

• The Consumerist - Finish Up Your Weekend With Some Light Reading On Health Care Reform
• Committee on Ways and Means - Health Care Reform
• U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Rules - H.R. 4872, THE HEALTH CARE & EDUCATION AFFORDABILITY RECONCILIATION ACT of 2010 SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
• New York Times - How the Health Care Overhaul Could Affect You
• Chicago Tribune - Chart: How the bill affects you
• Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office - The bill’s effects on the federal budget (PDF)
• FactCheck.org - A Final Weekend of Whoppers?
• FactCheck.org - Health Care Summit Squabbles
• PolitFact.com - Florida Republican Party claims Democratic health care plan is government takeover
• PolitiFact.com - Top 5 lies about health care

And for good measure, I thought I’d throw this one in.  It’s an interview from CNN in which it is pointed out that the content of this bill is indeed bipartisan.

• CrooksandLiars.com - Wasserman Schultz on Health Care Bill: This Passed Without Any Republican Support by Their Choice

That is all for now.  I hope that you all find this information useful and productive in your evaluation of what this legislation means to you and yours, as well as how it may impact all of our lives.

Peace.

Came across an interesting article today, via Mohammad Haque (or Hawk - artist of AppleGeeks and one of my favorite creative people on the web).

Ask Mr. Artist Guy: Should An Illustrator Work In Multiple Styles?

This is especially poignant for me.  I struggle mightily with my illustrative “style”.  I will often times set out to purposely try and do an illustration or sketch in a different style, give it some different character from what I normally do.  It’s hard for me though.  Ultimately, I generally end up with the same outcome.  Very frustrating.

I believe I could overcome this if I just got my tail to my drafting table more often, though it is difficult to plan sketch time when I usually have so much to do once I get home from work (cooking, cleaning or even just relaxing for a while).

I find it difficult to motivate myself to purposely sit at yet another desk after having sat at one all day at work.  Although it’s pretty easy to do if I’m going to be playing a session of Aion, etc., Perhaps I just need to get my priorities adjusted.

In any case, I plan on having even less time here shortly.  I’ll be gone for two weeks in December and after the first of the year, I hope to focus on getting my tail back into an early-morning gym routine.

As my friend and mentor Patrick says — “Focus!”