The Sum of David

Josh and I met again concerning the website. You’ll recall he hated all the last options that I did on the basis I was limiting myself to the design. So this time I did them at the most basic stage, in the form of rough penned thumbnails as opposed to computer mock-ups.

It was more fun and free this round, with me making something like 12 or 13 options, in varying forms of all-over-the-place. Some made room for content, while others were basically visual/design wank-offs. I just did whatever I felt like.

I guess it paid off. This time he went so far as to call them “brilliant”. Now I’m not stupid enough to think he’s not biased, but it’s a different cry than the last round, so I’m relatively pleased.

I’ve been working on the content on and off for a while, so the visual aspect will be the most challenging at this point anyhow. I know which one HE really likes, and it’s one of my top three also - however, I think I might flesh out my top three JUST BECAUSE, and see if any of them fit the story more than the others…

We’ll see what time permits. Countdown? 18 days, yikes!

Website Meeting #1

Josh and I rolled out to the Robinson Mall (free wireless) after breakfast on Sunday to discuss website options. It was informative and interesting, outside of a tense moment when he told me he pretty much hated the thumbs I’d laid out so far. None of them were bad at all, but they just looked like… websites.

We’re both looking to push creatively, and so I’m back to the drawing board. I’m realizing he’s looking for something very illustrated, and I don’t know about that — not on the basis that it’s a bad idea, but more in that I don’t trust my illustrating abilities to do it justice. Ultimately it doesn’t matter what he envisions, but it sure is nice to have someone else’s opinion to factor in. And although it frustrates me on the spot, I think it will probably work out better in the long run.

We’re getting together again on Thursday night to check out some basic pencil sketches. Let’s hope that’s a more warm and fuzzy meeting.

The end product that I always work toward is a hand-bound (sort-of) book. The stories themselves have always been divided into chapters, and the words themselves are a challenge to create, delete, re-arrange, etc.

But no, I’ve got to make it harder on myself. A chapter icon accompanies each chapter. I don’t know what they’re called in real, hired-illustrator, Published Land, but I call them icons. Logo design is something I do for a living, so making the little symbols isn’t that tough — it’s making FIFTY-TWO of them that might eventually render me blind. Some take an hour, some take more or less. Get a calculator and count that up. UGH.

So far I’ve completed eleven. You better believe I’ve raided everything I can from the previous stories, too (aha!). Up to now my bounty lists as follows: A wagon wheel. NICE.

I’m going blind, please send help.

Josh and I met on Sunday regarding the website.

It’s kind of hard of to outline what you want when you don’t actually KNOW what it is you want. I’ve been formulating what could be possible in terms of content for months, so that helped, but I’m not very knowledgable in the realm of web possibilities. There was extensive discussion about ideas, goals, and organization. I walked away feeling confident. From this point we’ve got about four weeks to put together a site that we can both be proud of.

One big reason I feel so excited about it is that Josh (my fiance) is such an exceptional resource. He has a lot of knowledge in A LOT of areas, which opens interesting doors in all sorts of directions. He’s also a creative-type, and that brings its own unique perspective and problem-solving capabilities. He wore his business face the whole time (which I am not accustomed to experiencing) but that was actually very awesome: it makes me feel like I am in complete creative control of what’s going to develop.

We haven’t even gotten into the visual design of the site yet, which I am REALLY looking forward to. Our next meeting is on Thursday night. We’ll see how it goes.

I have a bunch of personal projects that I like chatter on about. I want a place to dump ideas and list progress (or the lack of), and I get tired of mixing that with the more inane stuff I post elsewhere. So: blogger Wordpress wins.

In the way of a short intro: My current project is under the working title of “David”. It is a story (app. 200 pp) that I wrote as a gift for my brother’s 15th birthday on October 19, 2006. On that date he will recieve a hard copy of the completed work. In addition, a website centered around the story and its creation/concepts will go live the same day, with relevant artwork and a new chapter posted each week for anyone that might want to check it out.

It is the fourth story I’ve done for my bro, but it will be the first with an accompanying website and real illustrations.