styledeficit bits and bobs

Make your own fonts, from Fontshop

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:09:48 -0400

Make your own fonts, from Fontshop: not tried it, but looks good.

Good idea

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:33:10 -0400

Just when you think everything is going ok… bam!...

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:42:25 -0400

Just when you think everything is going ok… bam! It’s the end of the film roll, and the photo you thought you had gets all messed up. Humpf.

I finally finished illustrating the rhyme I started the other...

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:04:00 -0400

I finally finished illustrating the rhyme I started the other week. It was actually written a long time ago, when the internet was ruled by robots and monkeys. (Back in the day, kittens didn’t get a look in.) Click to see full size

quick packshot polaroid for Bunny Corp. Lighting seems fine. Ok...

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 08:44:26 -0400

quick packshot polaroid for Bunny Corp. Lighting seems fine. Ok to shoot the final one I guess.

(They’re updating a few things)

This weekend I couldn’t get on to the server to get the...

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:43:14 -0400

This weekend I couldn’t get on to the server to get the tile-files, so decided to work on something else instead. This is the first panel of a multi-parter, illustrating a rhyme I wrote ages ago. More panels to come, at some point.

New buildings added

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:38:44 -0400

I’ve been slowly working on this tile. Not for any reason, just that it’s nice to have something to be getting on with. Nice to have something on the go that you can add to when you can’t think of anything else to draw.

It’s also building up a library of buildings to potentially use on other things. This is something eboy do really well - and I do really badly. Eboy create whole buildings, and then re-arrange them into a layout. I create the layout and draw the buildings to fit.

The difference? If a building in one of my illustrations goes behind another building, then I don’t draw the bit that goes behind. I don’t usually have the time. Eboy would probably draw the whole building - partly because they have time (there’s 3 of them) - but also because they re-use buildings again in other pieces. It’s one of those infuriating time-saving things you can’t do, if you don’t have the time.

Anyway. On with this tile. I’ve added three new blocks (to the right, in the image below), but there are still some more to go, before turning it back into a proper tiling image again.

The plan is to create different buildings for each block - so no repeated blocks. Also to keep it all in a UK architectural style. It wont all be Victorian or Georgian, but I just fancied starting with that kind of thing. (Years of inspiration courtesy of a long London commute) It’ll probably be one whole piece in the end. Probably. But along the way, I’ll create working tiles.

I like tiling things. There’s something really satisfying about getting them to work.

Oh - and incase you were interested - I usually draw in some kind of ‘proper colour palette’. I just muck about with the colour at the end - so the sepia style tile was drawn in the colours above, and ‘post produced’ so to speak…

sxsw sketchnotes

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:05:47 -0400

sxsw sketchnotes: really nice idea. Also makes it much more appealing to look back on and use later. I took notes in TextEdit, which I seem to use for everything at the moment. They don’t look pretty.

mob behaviour at sxsw?

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:39:53 -0400

mob behaviour at sxsw? :

work in progress.

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:55:03 -0500

work in progress.

The amazing Richard Pope has been at it again, creating the aply...

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:18:00 -0500

The amazing Richard Pope has been at it again, creating the aply named site, Groups Near You. As he says - with all the ‘social networking’ sites springing up around us, it’s easy to forget that online communities have existed via other means for years. Email groups, phpBB forums etc have been bringing people together to discuss everything from the local councils to local restaurants.

One of the hardest jobs these days is matching up residents with their online community. Groups can be tricky to find, and all but invisible without a personal, face-to-face introduction.

So if you’re looking for a group, managing a group, or even thinking of starting one, Groups Near You can help. Search via your town or postcode, and do a little investigation as to what’s going on in your area.

And why am I so interested? Well, I helped with the design of the site. I wish I could say I did some of the really clever stuff, but nah. That was all Richard. I just played with the pixels and did some colouring in.:)

MOO is having an Egg Hunt - and it starts on monday. I talked...

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 05:51:00 -0500

MOO is having an Egg Hunt - and it starts on monday. I talked about it in this blog post. I really hope people join in, because Corvus, our clue-writer is *great* and I want to see the way people solve the clues. I want to watch people’s minds work :)

These are the eggs people will be hunting for. I drew them in disgiuse - as Mexican wrestlers. (Of course!) There are 6 different designs in total, but loads of eggs to find - online, in the Great Outdoors - you know, like in different cities around the world - and in MOO orders.

Join in on Monday if you get time. It should be fun.

A theme for tumblr use.

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 05:35:32 -0500

A theme for tumblr use. : Nice. I keep thinking about customsing mine properly, but like all things, its time. I’ll have a little think about it. I think.

Smile

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:25:04 -0500

A lovely post on 37 Signals about things that make people smile.

And look at these!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:03:00 -0500

Even more lovely letters by Björn Johansson.

This isn't all me, me, me, you know

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:22:00 -0500

Actually it was meant to be, but really, I’m just not that prolific. And sometimes I have to leave the house. Anyway. this is finished now, and in a shop near you. It was for the UK magazine, PC Pro.

But more importantly, isn’t this great? Kind of isometric rooms, done by a loose-handed, gadgetless W.Heath Robinson.

It’s part of a project by Scott Teplin,, which seems to’ve popped out of his weekly sketches. Well. I like them anyway. Found via tom martin’s Tumblr blog.

DS Video

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:31:14 -0500

The amazing Ludlams are at it again. Dominic and Nick Ludlam have just released DS Video, an open source wavelet video codec for the Nintendo DS. I helped them by designing *one* screen as a tester ages ago. The rest they just ran with themselves. Really nice of them to give me a credit though. They’re very possibly the best ‘clients’ I have ever worked for. Ever. Check out the site, the idea looks fantastic.

New school, old school.

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:11:00 -0500

New school, old school.

The explanation for the pic on June 10th. Some old mobile phone...

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:38:37 -0500

The explanation for the pic on June 10th. Some old mobile phone stuff from a while back.

A real photo this time. See the larger version

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:02:48 -0500

A real photo this time. See the larger version