Hi all – Long time no update!! I know it’s been pretty quiet over here since my 365 postcard project ended….that’s not to say I haven’t been busy however, ha ha. 

Anyhow, there are a few things I aim to do this year on this website, some of which are:

• Update this layout (Cam and I have something pretty cool in the idea factory…we’ve yet to make a start on it though  :o)
• Update this blog once a week with either a new drawing, tutorial, inspiration/idea post, and/or other random fun stuff to be decided soon.
• Make a zine or three to make a new section on the site – I’m nearly finished with my first one! But I bet you all won’t be surprised to see what it is once I’ve scanned it rofl.

Umm…yeah…that’s all I’ve really thought of so far. I’m sure I’ll keep adding to the list as the year goes on. I mean it’s only the end of January after all.

On to more recent news, I came across an unfinished illustration today of a huge ice cream I did last year some time (I know big surprise right?) It was supposed to be for some random competition but I completely forgot about it and didn’t bother finishing or entering it….mainly because the competition was focussed around global warming and I thought my idea might be a bit too sarcastic to submit  SO I cleaned it up a bit today and added a few finishing touches. I have to say I’m a bit rusty at editing colours in Photoshop so that’s why the colours in this are kinda really dodgy. Oh well, I had fun making bokeh light effects anyway (Don’t know what bokeh is!?!? Find out how easy it is to make cool lighting effects in my next post  /shamelessplug).

So without further ado – here is my first drawing for 2012 – what else than giant ice cream.

Everything in this poster was meant to be a satire of “green” products…except I made it kinda cute. I CAN’T HELP IT I can’t do serious.

Well it’s mini and it’s a mouse!

In all seriousness, I think I can totally relate to this.

Yes I hear you – I’m officially behind in postcard making. It had to happen eventually right..?

Anyway I’m really sorry – I’m kinda on another ‘holiday’. Will be back with a postcard from next week hopefully!! Also yes I know promised a huge update about my recent travels – it’s coming! I’ve just been so busy and tired at work lately…

You know when you get a shiny new notebook, and you say to yourself you won’t scribble in it, or treat it badly and keep it pristine til the last page? And… you end up making a complete mess of it by the 3rd page in?

Well… this is what happened a few days ago, when I had to sit through a training course. Not that it wasn’t informative or anything… but when it’s an all day thing and all you hear is powerpoints, scribbling really takes the stress out of thinking too hard!

Also, I found some really old stuff on a CD just then – plus all my old neopets screenies!

If you’d like to take a look at some screenies please visit my neopets website. (haha I know…so lame) Nostaliga 101!

One more update: You may have noticed on the 365 postcards page, there is now a progress meter, mostly thanks to Cam! Not only is this motivational to me, you can now see just how far along I am with my 365 postcards.

This is what happens when you’re finding out about random secret smilies on Skype.

I just got back from quite a big dinner, and I really don’t like sleeping when I feel so full sooo …blog time?

Feels like I haven’t blogged anything in ages.

I was actually going to blog today about how friggin FRUSTRATING html editors are.

Perhaps it just wasn’t my day….but long story short, I had to make a html template at work today for a campaign we’re initiating soon. I’d already made the flyer- I thought the template making would be easy since its just slapping some text into a table with some pretty images. But here’s the thing- we have to use an online marketing program to create these templates- and on this program is the SHITTIEST html WYSIWYG editor EVER.

YOU KNOW SOMETHING’S WRONG WHEN THE EDITOR WORKS BETTER IN INTERNET EXPLORER THAN IT DOES ON FIREFOX/CHROME.

Seriously enough said?

Anyway, since the editor on the program is pretty much useless, I decided to create the html with another editor, and just put the html into the program. I decided to use Dreamweaver, because I know how to use the program and its just quick and easy. But oh my god. I’ve never used CS4 til now but the Dreamweaver version….just absolutely sucks. SO BAD. It’s so counter intuitive its ridiculous. I use CS2 on my mac and its so quick and just gets stuff done really easily. CS4 however…its like they’re literally stuffing CSS down your throat. Web standards are one thing, but I don’t want to create a CSS tag for every different font style I use!!! THIS IS WHAT CS4 DOES. It pretty much forces you to use css to change everything around like font size, font colour, etc. and its just ANNOYING. It makes things so much slower.

They also seem to have changed the window panels and stuff around…..for the WORSE. It’s like they reorganized everything around to confuse you even more, and to make it seem like they’ve updated CS3(which they haven’t really). Anywho, I just gave up on Dreamweaver and coded the text and images myself. Except, the template which we are supposed to use for every campaign…..it’s…erm….it uses a lot of nested tables. I wouldn’t say its the best way to lay everything out, but hey, maybe its just the program that forces us to make it that way(trust me, its REALLY BAD as I’ll get to in a bit).

Anywho, nested tables are friggin confusing. Especially if you’re coding it by hand. So I started using another editor called Seamonkey to properly see what I was doing. And when I saw the preview in both Dreamweaver and Seamonkey it looked fine. It was just….an amazing piece of work.

Then I saved it as a template on the marketing program which promtly deleted half the code and messed the tables up. WHY!? It might have something to do with the fact that the html template contained russian text. But it made NO SENSE. It was seemingly random- I’d save it over and over again, and the same line of text would be deleted from then on down, then other times it’d be other parts of the text like the footer or something. SO WEIRD.

After hours of fiddling around, I was becoming really angry but nearly got it right- so I sent a proof to myself and it looked ok. I went to edit it again because I want things to be perfect- and it was messed up again. Seriously wtf?! Then, I thought I’d gotten it right again after much fiddling in the actual shitty editor itself. The online preview looked fine and everything. Then I send a proof to myself and EVERYTHING is all over the place.

Seriously…………………

……….

I never thought I’d have this much trouble with putting together a html table with text and images in it.

Other than that work has been going well. Learning lots, enjoying everything heaps. I think I’m pretty lucky- ok the pay’s not that great but I seem to enjoy my job a heck of a lot more than a lot of other people I know!!! I’m also really enjoying working with InDesign. It’s really easy to use and has a lot of really cool features- unlike Dreamweaver, the CS4 version is pretty good.

Which reminds me, new issue of dotdotdash is coming out soon! Can’t wait to see the next issue- its on food so you know its going to be exciting. We’re having a music themed issue next, with a CD of local Perth bands by Spaceship News so that’ll be exciting. It’s time to start designing new spreads for the upcoming issue, and because I haven’t used Illustrator in a while I’m feeling kind of…stuck at the moment. Plus I haven’t really had much time to do much lately but I’ll hopefully get some of that done on the weekend!

The aussie dollar’s been really good lately, and I’ve wanted to buy a few things but don’t really have that much money to spend atm……..I have to say though, I am NEVER buying a book from a bookstore in Perth again. Book Depository.co.uk is where its at!!! Seriously, the prices of new books on there are just SO AWESOME. Plus its free shipping on every book which works out slightly cheaper than Amazon. I got The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, and the third Swamp thing book recently, and maybe its because I havent read a good book in a while now…but having something to read again is so exciting.

On that note, Alan Moore is a literary genius. No one can write like he can. Seriously, the first page alone was amazing:

While his lover sleeps, the swamp creature sits in the smoldering pink dusk and overlooks his territories.

To the east, paperboys have wearied halfway through their rounds dumping their remaining papers somewhere discreet and telling the newsagent he must have miscounted. The dead headlines dance upon a lukewarm wind, monochrome tumbleweed bowling through the failing light.

He watches sheets of newsprint flap like huge moths, crippled by their own weight, hopping clumsily amongst the black trees. Their papers are full of obsolete tragedies and discarded faces; all the carefully logged hysteria of a world he no longer belongs to.

Behind him, his lover mumbles three dream-submerged syllables, but does not wake, and he is content beneath a darkening and volcanic sky. The swamp engulfs them. It is their own damp cosmos, and the troubles of the world beyond seem no more than the whispered conversations of distant madmen…

It has more of an effect in comic form. But seriously, just that opening paragraph…you can just tell how much of an amazing writer he is.

Omg, and the funniest thing happened the other day. I read part of my olldd diary, back when I actually WROTE STUFF DOWN from when I was in primary/high school/uni!! Reading it was like reading a different person. I remember feeling all those things and experiencing all those things…but wow. It was very nostalgic, especially high school. Because it’s like….high school happened just like ‘that’. I had a photo stuck on the back of my year 5/6 year when everything was all good and we were all just little kids. All I can say is funny how things turn out…

And yeah! I think that basically sums everything up. And now its really late and I have to get up early tomorrow. Good part is, its THURSDAY! Which is one more day closer to the weekend! Yay! I have quite a few things on this weekend apparently, so it will so action packed and fun, fun, fun.

I would have liked to include a pretty picture with this blog post but right now can’t really be bothered…..

Random though: I’ve been thinking bout getting into the Ex Machina/Transmetropolitan/Fables series but don’t really know if I’d be into it……recommendations on any, anyone? Personally not a big fan of the superhero storylines so definitely interested in seeing if I’d read any of these particularly Fables!

Well now its really late and I should go to bed. Goodnight everyone~!

© Jaclyn Tan 2009-2012