On Flash CS4

The image above is from a tutorial made by Lee Brimelow demonstrating the Bone Tool (giggidy), just one of Flash CS4's many great features.

You would have to watch the tutorial to see some of the other cool features it has because my head will explode with excitement if I try to list them here. Bottom line is, the new features are more designer friendly. It seems that finally Flash has truly become an Adobe program, as opposed to that Macromedia program owned by Adobe. Flash CS3 was like the transition phase where it still has the layout of Flash 8 and below but it has new more intuitive features. Being able to make your own panels is the only one I can think of right now (but I'm pretty sure not a lot of people know that you can do that).

So what can we expect to see from this newfangled program with regards to future Flash creations? Well, no more 12 FPS banner ads I hope. I think that 12 FPS is always used because it's the default setting of the old versions and people just don't bother to change it even though it's ugly, but not anymore! *geek snort* The default is 24 FPS now! *geek snort* I can also see nicer and maybe more complex animations. But I know, visually, there is still going to be awesomely stretched out type in some shiny gradient doing some sorta bounce motion on the screen announcing that you can win a free iSomething. It's going to be a really nice bounce motion though.

As my good friend Kaz said (just minutes before I started writing this blog): "we can be designers again". Referring to, of course, to me and our other fellow designers (all over the world). But I also think there are going to be people who will get this program and think that they can be designers too. I'm not saying that they can't be, there's a lot of talent out there. I just hope to see a lot of good quality work from designers now that there is less of a barrier between the designer and what they want to accomplish in Flash.

Ok putting the Geek Mode on sleep now.

More...

Sketching

It's that time again! My submission for the Threadless Love's contest is finally ready to be voted on.

Used some of the drawings from the crazy bunch that I drew (see last post). I made it a little fancy and added a glow-in-the-dark element to it.

So put a $5 on it!

More...

Doodles

I got another idea for a Threadless submission! This time it's for one of those "Threadless Loves" challenges.

These doodles are just the first part of the design, just a sneak peak of what's to come. Here's another one:

More...

Wallflowers Update

Here you go kids! It's submitted and ready to be voted on by YOU. It's a Flash thing, so if you press that button on the lower right, you can see the design placed on a shirt.

Thanks!

More...

Some Inspiration

A few months ago, a friend of mine twittered a link to a video that I did not get to look at until recently. Honestly, I don't watch a lot of videos that are posted on twitter by my friends (sorry guys) because I did not have the time, and if I did I would have forgotten to look back at it. But I am really glad that I watched this one, because it was very inspirational. I wish I could use a combination of words to better describe what it felt to watch it, but that is the first thing that came to mind.

Honestly, at first I had no idea who this Ira Glass was. Until he started talking about This American Life. I've listened to the show before and finally, I had a face (and a name) to put with the voice. I know I should have recognized the name being mentioned on one of those episodes, but I was just focused on the meat of the information.

And now for the meat of this information (w00t segue). It's nice to know that it is natural to feel like you are not doing the best work. The key is to know what is good, and through a lot of work, you will eventually get there. For me, it means getting more clients to do graphic design work, for you, I don't know. You figure it out. Jeez, what do you think I am? Some sorta magic blog?

...

Sooo, if knowing what is good is what we need to be good, then I pose a couple of questions to all the other Graphic Designers out there: What is good taste in graphic design? How does one look for good tasting graphic design? You know, the delicious kind. Think about it, write it down, and then leave your answer on the front table when you're done.

Thanks for the link Vy!

More...

The Wallflower

I think I'm about ready to submit this new shirt design for Threadless. But before that, I submit this design at the mercy of whoever happens to read this post.

The background color will be the shirt color, and it can be changed. Below are the selections of shirt colors that I can use.

Thanks!

More...

Update 2008!

Have not posted in a while because I really have no idea what to post on this thing. Probably because I have nothing special going on in my life worth blogging about. Any suggestions? I could document my adventures in illustration, post weird crap that I find on the internet, talk about the eclectic selection of music that I listen to, or all of the above.

Is anybody even reading this anymore?

More...