Why are illustrators and graphic designers so afraid of Flash? Same reason they're afraid of spiders, floppy armed robots, and those vaguely naughty personal hygiene commercials: misunderstanding. If we could only clear up the great prejudices that surround Flash and Flash Player, and if we could just shed light on all the advances the enslaved code-gnomes at Google and Adobe have made in overcoming the early problems with integrating Flash and interwebs, we could all put aside our phobias and hatred. We'd still have those creepy commercials, but at least rich media applications would be more widely accepted. Not true! Asual.com offers a free application download for Flash developers called SWFAddress. In Asual's words: SWFAddress is a small but powerful library that provides deep linking for Flash and Ajax. It's a developer tool, allowing creation of unique virtual URLs that can point to a website section or an application state. SWFAddress enables a number of important capabilities which are missing in today's rich web technologies including: bookmarking in a browser or social website; Sending links via email or instant messenger; Finding specific content with the major search engines; Utilizing browser history and reload buttons. The Killer Badger web site uses SWFAdress in its navigation. I'll admit that I haven't gotten it to work perfectly yet. But I've seen several sites out there that use it successfully (Nissan's web site, for example), so the issue in my case is probably PEBCAC. Wrong again! A javascript application called swffit fixes that problem quite easily. I needed just such a fix because the the Killer Badger web site was designed for full-screen viewing. I knew this going into the design, and I knew that viewers looking at the site on the smaller screens you'd find on laptops might not be able to absorb the full resplendent glory of my dashboard navigation metaphor. But swffit sniffs out the browser window dimensions and re-sizes the entire swf file to fit. Brilliant. I'm shocked! SHOCKED, I say! Actually, this one may have some truth to it. But at the time of this writing, Flash Player 10.1 is due to be released within a few months (Spring '10), and it is reportedly able to render swf files to many kinds of mobile devices and tablets. Adobe's admitted security holes are also going to be stitched up, too. This article sums up the promised breakthroughs in this area. Time will tell, the pudding will be proven, and every dog will have his day. In time, the dog may even eat the pudding. EDIT: A prerelease version of Flash Player 10.1 is available as of April 5, 2010. Oh, and I suppose all html web sites out there are tasteful and dignified? Pshhh... Truth is, the designer and the client are the ones who should be held responsible - or rewarded - for the outcome of any design. Flash isn't inherently distasteful. In the hands of truly talented designers, astoundingly effective, creative, and downright sublime results are possible. Check out level2D's Flash site. Simply breathtaking.
To wit, I submit the Killer Badger Illustration Studio Flash web site:
Read on...
So you might ask, what exactly are all the prejudices of which I speak? First, I'd tell you that it's okay to end a sentence in a preposition. Then I'd enumerate each one:
Flash Prejudice No. 1: You can't assign a unique URL to individual rendering states (or "pages" if you insist), making it impossible to send others a link that directs them to that page view.
What? Who told you that? Seriously, who? Why, I oughtta... It might have been true in the past, but not so much anymore. Here is an article that describes just how well Google can extract text and link information from a .swf file and index it right along with all the other html files out there. The technology still has a way to go, but with the growing popularity of Flash, Google is going to continue developing it. Give those code-gnomes a cookie.
Flash Prejudice No. 4: Flash Player is not available for mobile devices. It also poses security risks on other devices.
Friday, April 2, 2010
News Flash! Killer Badger's New Flash Site
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Ubuntu's Karmic Koala
Ubuntu is a free, open-source operating system for personal computers. It kicks the pants off of Windows, if operating systems have pants, that is. If Windows did have pants, it doesn't anymore. Now it just stands around in its virtual underwear looking like a drunk and confused Peter Griffin from Family Guy with his paunch hanging over his joy toy. I just made that up.
Unauthorized and possibly unwanted commentary aside, the folks who publish Ubuntu User Magazine absentmindedly invited me to illustrate the Discovery Guide portion of the latest version of their software, dubbed Karmic Koala. Here are the spots I drew for them:
End of Post
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Illustration and Pit Bull Breed Advocacy
I get a lot of requests from my readers for pit bull illustrations. Some are pretty creative ideas, and I'll always consider rendering these animals in a manner that reflects their dignity, strength, dedication, and yes, even playfulness. But sorry folks, I will not depict a pit bull - or any dog, for that matter - engaging in violent behavior. Even implied violent behavior is off limits.
And in that spirit, I am proud that Game Dog Guardian has been a long-time client of mine. My business partner, Justin "Jud" Kite, and I designed the logo and all the apparel for this newly formed pit bull advocacy organization, headed by Anthony Barnett. Here's a slideshow of the current designs we are preparing for sale on the upcoming Game Dog Guardian site. For several of the tees, the original dog head was designed by Scott Murray.
It's been a few years in the making, but it appears from this recent article in my local paper that Anthony and Game Dog Guardian are getting the props they deserve.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
KC Geargrinder for 2010
Yeah, it's on allright.
The 2nd annual KC Geargrinder hot rod show is taking over Knuckleheads Saloon in Kansas City April 23-24.
This poster was designed in collaboration with my business partner, Jud Kite, from Killer Kite Productions. It's our tribute to the SoCal Speed Shop style.
End of post.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Rev It Up! Hot Rod Show and Music Fest
Do you like hot rods? What about live music? Food? Well, of course you do. And if you happen to be anywhere near the Lawrence, KS area on September 26th, you can get a heapin' helpin' of all three at the first annual Rev It Up! Hot Rod Show and Music Fest. Vehicle registration and admission are both free, but donations to the sponsor, GaDuGi Safecenter, are encouraged. Visit their MySpace page for more info.
Yours truly designed the poster along with all the promotional materials.
End of Post
Monday, June 8, 2009
The Birth of a New Badger
Yes, a new badger is born: a Killer Badger.
The popularity of my hot rod and muscle car illustrations has grown faster than I could have imagined when I started freelance work four years ago. It's become so strong that I've recently decided to split out that part of my business into its own entity.
The result? The Killer Badger Illustration Studio.
It just makes sense to me that my traditional illustration work should be marketed separately from the rather specialized field of hot rod and custom car illustration. I'm not going to sacrifice one for the other - in fact keeping both segments operating at full tilt is what makes the Agile Badger so agile.
The image you see here marks the new look of my hot rod business. In the next month or so, I'll be launching a new website with my snarling little friend here as the gate keeper on the landing page. It's going to be a showcase of full-throttle, tire-smokin', red-line-revvin' hot rods.
Now back to the drawing board.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
14 Jaunty Jackalopes for Ubuntu User Magazine
One of the more fun aspects of my job is the surprise - no, astonishment - that comes from the bizarre variety of subjects I'm sometimes hired to illustrate. Who'd a-thunk when I started freelance work nearly four years ago that one day I'd get paid to draw a pit bull with an Afro? Or a donkey standing in a Mexican restaurant?
And the fun just keeps on coming. I've just finished a series of spot illustrations for the first print issue of Ubuntu User Magazine. Sound normal so far? Did I mention that each one was a cartoon jackalope engaged in various computer software activities?
This one is "Burning CDs."
The theme for the Ubuntu release featured in this inaugural issue was Jaunty Jackalope. The editors asked me for twelve drawings that would illustrate several of the functions and activities featured in this free OS for home computing. They liked them enough to ask me for two more!
Here's a slideshow of all 14 illustrations.
(click on image for slideshow)
END OF POST
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Best Vector Text Effects, Ever.
Although the Vandelay Design blog is primarily geared towards tutorials for web designers, there's a heapin' helpin' of valuable information for illustrators and graphic artists as well. Like this post about text effects using Adobe Illustrator.
There's also a top 20 list of the most valuable Photoshop tutorials on the web. That's a pretty bold claim, but I think they may be right.
Now, back to the drawing board.
End of Post
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Everyone Loves Freebies
Seems everyone is offering free Photoshop textures and backgrounds these days. It's a shameless gimmick, actually, and I'm dismayed and disheartened by all the attention-grubbing hacks out there who resort to such blatant panderism.
But then I thought, "Wait a sec. I'm an attention-grubbing hack, and I love blatant panderism!" So decided to join the others of my ilk and post my own hi-res textures and backgrounds, free for your personal or commercial use.
There are nine images in all, and they're available in jpeg format in sizes up to 1024 x 768 pixels.
Read on...
All of these photos were taken in one location: Big Brutus in West Mineral, Kansas. Big Brutus is the second largest electric shovel in the world. It's out of commission now, but in its day, it could load and unload 90 cubic yards of what coal miners call "overburden" - that 65-foot-deep layer of inconvenient stuff that the rest of us call dirt - in under a minute.
Now, I don't know if you can form a mental image of 90 cubic yard of dirt, but I'll give you hint: it's about the same volume as four Dodge Caravans stacked 2 by 2, soccer moms not included. Take it from me, that's a lot of dirt. I just planted a peach tree in our back yard, a task that required the removal and replacement of about 1/8th cubic yard of "overburden." It took me a half-hour, and my back is killing me.
The folks at the Big Brutus Visitor's center allow you to climb inside this thing. They even let you sit in the operator's seat, a good 30 feet off the ground. They won't let you climb up the 150 ft boom, however. Something about falling and dying, I think. They're funny about that.
But inside, it's a wonderland for machine junkies like me. They've removed the giant, half-dozen or so electric motors from inside the big orange box, but all the cables, wheels, brackets, and electrical connection doohickey thingies are still there, still greased up and rusty, just like I like it. Don't take that the wrong way.
If you're ever swinging through the southeast portion of our state (hey, it could happen) it's worth the visit just to feel the jaw-dropping immensity of it all. Even my mother-in-law had fun.
So pop on over to my Flikr account for a heapin' helpin' of some lovin' from the Badger's oven. If you use any of these images in your work, I'd love a comment or email.
Now back to the drawing board.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Lawn Care with Flair
Those good-lookin', hard-workin' boys at Fiske Brothers Yardworks in Centennial, Colorado added a new Dodge Ram pickup truck to their fleet. Co-Owner Tim Fiske asked if I would commemorate the occasion with a tee shirt design for his employees.
I never thought of myself much of a truck guy, but this was a fun gig. The Dodge Rams are really tough looking, and I love the 18-wheeler-look to their hood and grille.
I also couldn't help but put some fatties on the mower, just for fun.
Now back to the drawing board.
End of post.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Head First Web Design
Those wacky folks over at O'Reilly Media, Inc. have put out another Head First book, this time on web design. If you're not familiar with the Head First series of how-to books, then you're either over forty years old or not much into how-to books. I'm both. But for reasons I still don't understand, Linux Pro Magazine asked me to write an online review of the latest in a long line of their eccentric but extremely well written instructional books.
You can read the full review here.
Now back to the drawing board.
There's nothing more here. Really.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
You can be a Hot Dog with SketchUp
Even if you're not a computer hot dog, you won't need your courage mustered with SketchUp. Most of us don't relish the idea of digesting new software, but the online tutorials are quite easy to stomach, and you'll be able to devour them without biting off more than you can chew.
Okay, I'll stop.
Recently, I was asked to write a how-to article about Sketchup 7.0 for a special edition of LinuxPro Magazine. SketchUp is a free 3D modeling application available from the benevolent behemoth, Google. You have heard of Google, right?
The problem with such an assignment is that SketchUp doesn't seem difficult enough to warrant much instruction. It's so easy to use that I had difficulty thinking of more than one sentence to write: "Open SketchUp and start drawing stuff."
But I was being paid by the page, so I knew I needed a more robust approach. Besides, there are countless online forums, blog posts, and video tutorials that describe pretty much everything you need to know. With such a vast support network, even Pepe Le Pew could build a model of the Eiffel Tower before you could say, "Freedom Fries."
So I considered writing the article about how to build models of typical residential rooms and furniture in case the readers wanted to see how new counter tops or cabinets might look in their kitchen. That idea left me with visions of my daughter rolling her eyes at me with, as the song goes, "her finger and her thumb in the shape of an 'L' on her forehead."
I knew my project had to be something fun to build. It had to demonstrate SketchUp's usefulness not just to hobbyists and woodworkers, but also to professional artists. It had to be fun and relatively simple to build. But most importantly, it had to be totally unverifiable in the real world.
So I decided on a Googlebot. Read on...
As much as I'd like to claim it, inventing a physical form for Googlebot is not my own idea, nor is it new to the online community of bored bloggers. But I don't think I've seen an interpretation that crosses the Spyder three-wheel motorcycle with Disney's Wall-E. This little guy could sniff out a relevant anchor tag from fifty paces, even if it were hopelessly buried under a deep heap of bloated code.
Building a Googlebot step-by-step would hopefully show how 3D modeling can be a valuable tool for facilitating an artist's creativity and imagination, not just project planning for an armchair architect. The usefulness of a lightweight, flexible program like SketchUp comes from quick and accurate insight into the nature of 3D objects: the play of light and shadow on their surfaces, and the effect that various perspective viewpoints have on them. For my own work, having a tool that helps me quickly block-out the rough shape of an object so I can experiment with lighting and texture effects is priceless. And the fact that SketchUp is literally priceless doesn't hurt either.
To keep the article relatively simple, several of the major pieces and parts of my Googlebot were built ahead of time: I made the model of the wheel while the binoculars were made by a SketchUp user with the screen name Birdman. Both models are available through Google's 3D Warehouse.
Although the article is rather matter-of-fact in its description of how to use the Move, Scale, Rotate, and Push/Pull tools to build the remaining components of the Googlebot, it also reveals a few insider tips and tricks to make these tools do more than they you might expect. The Scale tool, for example, can be manipulated into becoming a mirror tool, an explicit function that SketchUp lacks.
The free version of SketchUp is not intended for modeling with a high level of accuracy or detail. Both are possible, but if you're after photo-realistic renderings worthy of gaming or fantasy art, better stick with SketchUp Pro, Swift3D, 3DS Max, or any of the dozens of other mighty titans in the industry. I own a copy of Swift3D, and SketchUp will never replace it, just like my computer will never replace my pencil. Use the right tool for the right job.
With that in mind, it's imporatant to realize that all surfaces in SketchUp are either purely planar or are made up of a series of faceted planes. Arcs, circles, and curved surfaces are not really curved; they are polygonal. They may appear curved but that's only because the number of faces on the polygons are high enough that your eye doesn't pick them up. On the plus side, that keeps computations to a minimum. But it also prohibits highly accurate modeling of undulating surfaces like the curvaceous hood of a '53 Mercury. Those things can still be represented, but only with a series of interconnected triangular patches that only approximate the surface. You can soften the edges between the triangles to further improve the appearance, but the results are still approximations that don't stand up to close scrutiny.
But no matter. Accuracy isn't the point here; it's expediency, visualization, and insight. And SketchUp is masterful at all three.
So check out the articls online or pick up a copy of the Linux Pro Magazine Special Edition at newsstands everywhere.
Now, back to the drawing board.
