BETA Testing Dunked

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Dunked: The latest project from Orman Clark and friends.

I had the privilege of being an early BETA tester for Dunked, a new online portfolio service. Dunked is the brainchild of Orman Clark and friends; and has all the earmarks of their previous work. Whether their attention to laser-focused, purpose-driven-design is intentional or not; what they produce is regarded by many, myself included, to be the apex. Having used everything from WordPress to Cargo Collective, to SquareSpace, I can definitely say Dunked is creative-centric. It does one thing, and does it well. You have artwork you want to showcase? - Dunked makes it extremely easy with a minimalistic interface, easy-to-follow instructions, and just enough information and navigation to get you where you need to go. One of the big traps other portfolio resources fall into is the inability to know when to stop. It's commonly called "feature creep". It's when you keep adding in additional functionality because you're convinced the user will love it - ya know, like Facebook. I have no doubt that Dunked with continue to evolve with its user-base, but for now the beauty is in its simplicity. I hope the never changes.

Many designers already consider Orman Clark to be a bit of a godsend with his help-fellow-designers' premiumpixels.com project. Which offers professionally designed, free Photoshop files for designers to use in their personal and freelance projects. Check it out.

A Pirate's Life

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My tribute to a pioneering animator and visual aesthetics master - Marc Davis. 

One of Walt Disney's legendary "Nine Old Men", Davis' fingerprint can be seen on almost every animated film created during the "golden age" of Disney animation: Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, and 101 Dalmatians. In addition to several other Disneyland attractions, Davis played a significant role during the conceptualization process of the original Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. While he created and contributed to a multitude of projects, Pirates stands out as an enduring personal favorite. 

"We really don't have a story, with a beginning, an end, or a plot. It's more a series of experiences building up to a climax. I call them experience rides." – Marc Davis

Self-Portrait

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After a fifteen year hiatus, I've been slowly introducing myself to increasingly difficult illustrations. The self-portrait has always been notoriously challenging for illustrators, as the mind attempts to illustrate what it thinks it sees, rather than what is actually being seen. In a nutshell, it’s the Matrix philosophy of “the mental projection of your digital-self” – how we “think” we look.