The endless ocean of mediocrity that is the internet has been added to by yet another self-described 'creative': the cuddly, strokable, sweet-smelling rapscallion that is me. Massive pulsating yayness!Intents and purposes, my new site is as done as it can be for now, save for some teensy-weensy kinks that need to be ironed out. These mainly concern links to external sites and video content which will be uploaded and amended shortly. In general though, the functionality of the site seems to be on track. For now I've opted to go without sound but I may throw some little bits in here and there at a later date.
While this blog is still probably going to remain the most reliable and candid news source, I feel the two sites work well alongside one another. Also, there's a bunch of extra info on stuff I did pre-'House Guest' that I rarely - if ever - bring up here.
Go visit me already!
My continuing battle with Flash CS4 is getting to be significantly less stressful through the trial and error of putting this new 
The main issue, now that I've sorted out most of the coding problems, is the visual motif I'm going with, having all the information - such as popups, buttons, headers etc - printed out on torn scraps of paper that either crinkle, unfurl or boil depending on how the mouse interacts with them. The torn paper look is something that I've always been fond of aesthetically and it's appeared in several previous projects, such as my short film 
To make it authentic I'm designing the assets, printing them out and scanning them back in, several times in some instances depending on what kind of animation is required. The process is tedium incarnate, but it does look pretty good once it's done. The popups themselves consist of six books, fourteen music projects, seven short films and seven music videos, along with bio information and several other elements that have no function other than being ornamental.
The site has five sections, the main page which incorporates some personal info, links and news updates; Music; Film/Animation; Design/Illustration; and Books/Comics. Each of these has a different backdrop, a collage of visuals tailored to each section (eg. the 'Books' section features imagery from various comics and graphic novels, 'Music' features album artwork and so on). The sub-sections have the same opening animation to help stick with the theme, a reverse paper-scrunch that quickly smooths out.
I'm liking the way it's coming together although I'm a little concerned that, with all the visual elements, the loading times for each page may frustrate visitors. Gonna file that one under 'bridge to cross once gotten to'.
Ah, Actionscript. Or, as I like to call it, 'c**tcode'. I pray that whoever developed it outlives their only child. Or at the very least they lose both testes (or ovaries - I don't discriminate) to a particularly nasty battle with a rabid pine weasel. Just when I get to grips with it I find that there are several variations on it that don't function at all while running alongside one another, resulting in an entirely new language I've developed for use when exasperated. It's predominantly comprised of grunts, rhythmic projectile spitting, fiendishly-modified racial epithets and self-mutilation.
I suppose it makes the taste of victory that little bit sweeter when I finally get the f***ing sh***ing tw***ing c***ing thing to do what I f***ing sh***ing tw***ing c***ing want it to. Betraying my natural instinct to immediately give up on anything that's hard to begin with, I'm progressing it ever-so-incrementally and, in most respects, it's coming along quite well. Look at some purty screen grabs while I go back to it and choke back tears of vexation.
It was designed last August to go with the look of my current DVD showreel. The plan then was to get the site redesign done by the end of the year, but something shiny caught my eye and suddenly six months had gone by. I think I'm in a more suitable frame of mind - specifically a horribly ill one that sees me mostly housebound - to kick things into gear now.
What I've already started work on is a collection of sketchbook excerpts that showcase the gestation of a bunch of projects. Beyond the films these also include layouts and concepts for comics, commissions and projects that never came to be. I'm always fascinated by the published sketchbooks of illustrators and artists I admire, and it may be construed that I'm assuming that others will be similarly interested in mine. In truth I fully appreciate the virtual non-marketability of these more self-indulgent releases, it's more to scratch the personal itch of 'it sure would be nifty to get all this shit into a book'. And of course I can further exasperate my family and friends by extending my product line and dooming them to a lifetime of accepting gifts bearing my name with gritted teeth and forced grace.
