diamondcole bloga diamond for your thoughts

The Time Has Come…

Alright! I’ve graduated from college. Now it’s time to put that education to good use. Now I have to venture out and find a job that is deserving of my talents and skills. It will be a long journey, I know. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Actually I would. I would prefer it if I found the job of my dreams tomorrow. I would really prefer it if that job payed exceptionally well. But that probably won’t happen.

The thing I do appreciate, is the fact that I am working really hard at what I want to accomplish. And that gives me a greater feeling than having it handed to me.

Here are some new phrases I created. You can use them too. You can be just like me.

Turn on your Google

As In:

I needed to know how to create a new layer in Photoshop, so I turned on my Google and got it figured out.

Or -

You can’t figure it out? Well turn on your Google, that’s what it’s there for.

Mistryus (pronounced Miss – Tree – Us)

As In:

The Lord works in mistryus ways

Coined or Ching (said when you create or think of something new)

As In:

They should develop an animation feature for Adobe Illustrator *ching*

eFuck (a chronic internet masturbator)

As In:

Where’s Tim going? Home to search for porn on the interwebs and eFuck as usual.

*Ching* *Ching* *Ching* *Ching*

Use with caution.

Okay, having a job that pays the bills added on to commission work and school, is getting to be a bit ridiculous. But why blame the job. It pays the bills right?

Well, yes, but it’s not where I want to be. Or should be. I feel it is a waste of my time to spend eight hours of my day in this place that does nothing but stress me out. And to add the fact that I am severely underpaid doesn’t  help either.

But I guess that’s why it’s so hard. I mean, when I get to the point of creating art that pays the bills, I’ll look back at these days and feel proud of myself. Feel proud of how I worked so hard to accomplish what I have.

Here’s to the future.

Stay Tuned…

It’s awesome to have a job in which your duty is to research games like Armored Core and Guilty Gear. Or anime like Code Geass and D.N.Angel.

Now if only one day it will be my only job and not something that takes up all my personal time. Ah, but, such is life…

To work hard today for a relaxing tomorrow.

Stay Tuned…

So The other night I was working on a few websites and started to run into some issues. Turns out, I instinctively resolved these issues and found out, that some people don’t think to perform the actions I did.

So I am writing this post to give back to the community. Remember, learning can happen by mistake, if you know how to recognize it. And most of the things I will mention here happened by mistake. Here we go.

First off, I create my sites on my laptop (I’m an Eva fan so my laptop is named Unit_02). This is because I have a 26′ and 22″ dual monitor on my desktop (named The Magi – and yes, I do have three HDDs  named, Casper, Melchior and Balthasar), not ideal for simulating a user experience. Unit_02 is a 15″, so that is closer to what most people will have. Make sure you install every browser you can think of (Firefox, I.E. Safari, etc.).

I start my designs on the desktop cause I feel more comfortable there, but I transfer them over to Unit_02 for uploading and tweaking. This is where things can get bloated.

Unit_02 does a good job at keeping up, but place too much pressure and it likes to get testy. So when your system gets to running slow, start closing program you don’t need. Firefox takes up a lot of memory. That’s always the first to go. When you get down to Photoshop (PS) being the last program open and things haven’t sped up, it’s time to re-assimilate.

Using multiple filters and effects in PS can add weight to your file. And merging your layers can have unexpected results. So first you must organize your layers. Name them properly and utilize folders to keep everything under control.

Once this is done, we are going to save multiple .pngs. You see, we need layers but the system is slowing because there are too many. So if we mimic the layer effect we can continue our design without frustration. Let me clarify.

If we are doing the first page of a site, we will have at least 4 main layers. The logo, the background, the buttons menu, and the main content (side note: you may want to create the logo in its own file to begin with. The site I worked on was a redesign so I bypassed that part). So when you save out the images you want to hide what isn’t used for that particular layer – those folder and layer organizations assist in this part.

So hide the background and buttons, etc. and only show the logo. Now save as, and choose .png (.png has transparencies unlike .jpg which uses a white background).

Once you have saved all the layers out, close the original file but never get rid of it. Actually you should duplicate it just in case. This is your master file. Now, open the background .png you saved and use this as your new starting point. Place the other images on top of this. Now you have a smaller file size and all your effects are still intact.

Remember to save constantly, name your saves properly, and make sure everything is at 72dpi before hosting. But be sure to create all images at 300dpi. You never know when a client will ask for a print out of the work you did.

Hope you enjoy. Any questions or comments feel free to post or write me at

pat@diamondcole.com

Thank You for viewing

and

Stay Tuned…

So things are starting to look better these days. I’m showcasing my work a lot more and really doing my best to be seen. I am now researching agents, in hopes to get someone else to find me work.

I’m working on websites that I have not been commissioned to work on. In the off chance the company might like what I’ve put together.

I’m starting to make more contacts in my area. As well as online.
Oh,

And I’m engaged. This year is going pretty well thus far.
Now if I can only get hired by the time I graduate in July.

Portfolio review…. here I come!

Stay Tuned1

Here is Cadaverous, all done up in 3D.

Modeled in Carrara then detailed and textured in ZBrush. Some post work in Photoshop.

Not exactly where I wanted this one to finish. But I have other projects and schoolwork to attend to. And being this is a personal project… well priorities have to stay in order, right. I will most likely return to this one in the future.

See Original Here: mosh

Meet The Pros was a pretty awesome event.

I had three portfolio reviews and they were more pleasing than I expected. There are a few changes that I need to make but that goes without saying. A person’s portfolio will go through multiple changes throughout their career. If it doesn’t, there is no growth.  The information I took from the panels and my reviews will be put to work in the coming months as I prepare to exit college and enter the world of graphic design. Let’s just hope I can deliver. I have no doubts that I can.