Why am I not in SanDiego?

As I step outside my house today into poring rain and the boom of thunder I have to stop and ask myself, why am I not in SanDiego?
Why am I not enjoying endless sunshine and people in bad costumes? Why am I not hanging with my wonderful comic geek friends? I feel regret that yet again my bank account has not allowed me this trip down to the sunny state. Oh San Diego, how I miss thee.

Attack of the leathal virus's

So along with having no internet access outside of a coffee shop because my Quest modem appears to have died, I've spent the whole weekend not working on the art project I wanted to get done and instead, have been battling a whole slew of nasty computer viruses who have corrupted my computer to the extent that I'm now limping along with little hope of saving my computer from a complete reinstall.

That means operating system and everything.

I've sort of guessed that from the beginning, when on Thursday my computer was literally hijacked before my eyes, my Internet Explorer opened without my command and a file began downloading. I think I've had one of the best looks on my face to date. I believe it was a mixture of horror and aghast fascination.

Lucky for me my father is an amazing computer network enginier so he was able to get on the phone with me and figure out most of the problems. Still though... things seem kinda wonky so I'm afraid to access any websites where i have to enter a lot of personal information. I'll have to find another secure computer to pay my Quest bill.

So I'm sorry for yet another non-art post but I'll be getting back to the art-ing soon.

Color inspiration from nature.

I just wanted to take a moment to link to a really amazing design article I found. On Nudibranch.

Just look at this color palette!
You can read the full article here.





Sometimes as a computer artist I can get so caught up in the technical stuff that I can forget to take the time to just look outside my studio window.
There is so much inspiration just waiting out there. So many amazing creatures and shapes.
I just set up a new studio with my room mate in the porch of our apartment, it looks great and so far its a perfect working space... assuming the fans are on full blast. Its hot here.

10 Commandments of Web Design

This is just brilliant.
I laughed and I agreed with the entire article and any one out there who likes to build the occasional site would do well to hop on over and read The 10 Commandments.

Seriously, I feel like I should print this out and pray to it every day.
My favorite is 'Thou shalt not abuse flash', my savior has come.

the first step has begun

I've started work on my senior show project again.

Its been frustrating and technology is a very frustrating.
so I'm not going to go into all the details at this time but I'm trying to connect a wii remote to a bluetooth adapter.
I've now discovered that every time I disconnect my bluetooth adapter, to make the wii remote work I have to reinstall the program and then disconnect the wii remote then reconnect it again.
Its annoying to say the least.

now I have to find new batteries

at least when everything is installed it works well.

One more bike post

ok, one more post about this bike "accident" then I'll get back to more important things.
I wish I had more art to post but setting up the new apartment has taken a lot of time and things are still a mess. I don't have access to a scanner right now so that's making it difficult to post even the few sketches I have done.

but onto being hit by a car. yeah, not an experience I want to repeat. I've changed my bike route so that I'm more protected, and I try to ride with a group of bikers whenever possible.
These are the bruises on my left leg. They've actually become a lot more impressive since I took this picture but I don't think anyone wants to see those.
My left arm is also really bruised but I can't really get a picture 'cause its on the backside. I think I also strained my neck but that barely hurts at all anymore.
I'm still really miffed that the guy didn't even stay around to see if I was okay but I think I've learned some valuable lessons about bike safety. I would encourage all my friends and readers. Please please please! Keep an eye out for bikers around you, they are very much more afraid of you than you are of them.

And now for something different: Bikes

I have dedicated this blog to the discussion of art related topics, however, with your indulgence I'm going to spend this post discussing another topic that has recently become very important to me.
Please, please if you are driving a car, please, keep an eye out for and respect the bikers around you.

I was hit by a car today on my way to work.

In Minneapolis there are not a lot of bike lanes or large shoulders to ride on. I ride into downtown on 3rd Ave S. This isn't to bad of a road to bike on. There are actually large shoulders here and a lot of bikers use it so the cars seem to at least acknowledge we're there. However, when I turn onto Washington Ave there is nothing. There is no shoulder to speak of and the cars have no problem zooming inches by me. I've had to swerve numerous times to avoid getting clipped.

So, I have taken to riding on the sidewalk down Washington. I don't feel good about this. I believe that sidewalks should be for pedestrians. However I don't feel that I have any other safe place to be.

Today however even that wasn't enough. I was riding on the sidewalk and I was starting toward an intersection. I had a walk sign so I went ahead. That's when the car turned in front of me.
I hit my brakes and tried to turn to the side but it wasn't enough and I crashed into the side of the car and bounced off, hitting the ground with a crash.

The car didn't even stop.

They slowed down, obviously the loud THUNK couldn't have escaped their notice, though they seemed oblivious to everything else. But when they saw me stand up they zoomed off. There were some very sweet pedestrians that stopped and made sure I was okay, asked if they could call anyone.

I'm okay, just badly shaken and a little bruised. My bike is okay too, mostly, its ridable at least. I'm going to take it into the shop to get it checked out. I really hope I at least left a dent in that car for them to remember me by.

So I admit I'm still a little angry because I was a lot scared. But this really is important. Please! Pay attention to the bikes around you! As the gas prices go up we need to look for better ways to get where we need to go but so many people are afraid to ride their bikes because they are afraid of getting hit. I believe this needs to change. Laws protecting pedestrians and bicyclists need to be respected and enforced and motorists themselves just need to remember that we're out there and we need your help to stay safe.

Here is a list of the top 11 safests cities for bicyclists in the world.

1. Amsterdam

2. Portland, Oregon (this is my hometown. GO OREGON! )

3. Copenhagen

4. Boulder, Colorado

5. Davis, California

6. Sandnes, Norway

7. Tronheim, Norway

8. San Francisco, California

9. Berlin

10. Barcelona

11. Basel, Switzerland

Source: TreeHugger

Summer art requests?

I'm really in need of some inspiration this summer. I don't want to slack off on my drawing like I have every other year. Any requests for pictures?
I'm willing to do fanart.