Feed Me!
Times are tough right now. If you can't hire me, maybe you can buy me a sandwich instead?
|
By Debra Wilson, on July 30th, 2011 Tonight I spent a few hours working on redoing a good friend’s website. The previous site was done in frames, and several pages didn’t match the basic look of the site. Frames make it hard fr search engines to pick up a site, and the lack of smooth integration between different parts of the site made some areas seem a bit awkward.
Tonight I recreated her home page, then incorporated everything into the WordPress installation, editing the theme to match the homepage making the transition between pages as seamless as possible. There’s one last thing to fix on my end, then the rest is on her.
She’s thrilled to be able to edit the contents of everything except the front page herself now, and I’m thrilled to have been able to give her more control over her site and what’s in it.
The one thing left to fix has me stumped, but I posted in the forum over at Bytes For All asking for help. You have to make a donation of at least $5.00 now in order to post on the forum, but considering how much use I have gotten out of that creator’s theme, and how much help I have received in the forums, $5.00 is a very small price to pay. Hopefully we can have the last little problem fixed by tomorrow evening. 
After it’s fixed, I’ll post the link here and let you see my handiwork. Working on her site has made me want to tidy up my own a bit.
And the problem is FIXED! See the site here at http://artrez.com/.
By Debra Wilson, on June 17th, 2011 You’ve come to this page to learn more about me and my work, or at least I hope that’s why you’re here!
I am a graphic artist, with a ridiculous love of zombies, science fiction, space westerns, sewing, puppies and kittens. I know HMTL, CSS, and enough about the WordPress engine to set you up right. I can do some theme customization, create an amazing logo from scratch, set up business cards, or that sales flyer you need for the weekend. I’ve designed a few tattoos. I’ve got a few more than that. I can also design a kick-ass website for you.
I live in Lancaster, CA, where I spend much of my free time stitching up things to sell in my Etsy.com shop, blogging about life in general, and watching way more bad science fiction and horror than can possible be good for me. I’m on an unending quest to find a truly frightening horror movie, but so far they just give me the giggles. I’ve also been known to take a few photos on occasion.
I have been working as a freelancer since 2002. I’ve worked doing vinyl sign cutting, creating screen printing designs, and embroidery designs. I prefer to work in Adobe Illustrator over Photoshop, as I enjoy the drawing aspect more then I enjoy the manipulative aspects of Photoshop, but can work easily in both. Unfortunately during my almost year long time spent at a franchise shop as a designer, I was unable to take samples of my work with me.
You’ve probably noticed that many of my logo designs have been for farms, ranches, and related businesses. That’s because growing up on a goat farm, many of my connections were with other farming people. Don’t let that fool you into thinking that’s all I can do- the possibilities are limitless and I am willing to take on a variety of projects.
When I begin work on a new project, I like to discuss what it is you (the client) is looking for first. Are there any styles you really like? Are there any you don’t? Can you show me three examples of existing designs that you enjoy? These things help me better understand exactly what you are looking for and help me to bring you better initial concepts to start off with- time is money, so let’s make the best use of it that we can. This is especially true for logo design as your logo is your calling card.
Kittyloaf is so named in memory of my cat Lucky. Though I only had him for about three years, he made a very lasting impression on me.
Find Kittyloaf Designs on Facebook, Networked Blogs, Google+, & Twitter
By Debra Wilson, on June 4th, 2010  I opened up Inkscape and played around a little. The only tool I have the hang of yet is the pen tool- it works exactly the same as in Illustrator. The tool I used to do this doodle is the calligraphy one; I did these lines, then ten minutes later went to add to it, and I can;t seem to duplicate the same line density even though the settings are the same. I’m not sure if it was because my finger pressure was different or what, but I guess I’ll be needing lots of practice with this one.
I also noticed the only web-ready pixel based outputs are PNG or BMP. That’s a little disappointing, but it could be worse. And theoretically (I haven’t opened it yet so I don’t know anything) I can just open and convert it in Gimp to something else.
I’m definitely looking forward to learning these two programs though, and I’m thinking that my first project to practice with will be a tattoo design. I’ve decided I want to get a day of the dead style skull with all the colors and details on my upper left arm, as a 1/4 sleeve. I’m still trying to sort out the details, but I’ve got all the time in the world. I can’t do anything until after I pay off my boyfriend’s birthday present anyway. After that, I can start saving up for it.
That’s something to look forward to.
By Debra Wilson, on March 30th, 2010 The soap stamp project is on hold even though the artwork is done and paid for. We’re waiting to hear back from another location that also mills them.
I’ve got a new project to work on now in the form of business cards for my boyfriend and his friend/roommate. They want cards made up for their car repair business. Normally you have a logo to build off of, but they don’t have one, and the only feedback they can give me is “simple”. I came up with four entirely different designs for them to look over, one of which I don’t like at all (looks too childish) and two that I quite like. The other one is nice but I think it needs a little fine tuning. But that can wait until I can get some more definite feedback from them. I’m hoping what we end up with looks good enough to toss into my portfolio of work, but who knows what they’re going to pick. I can only steer them so far towards something better.
Once a design is settled on, I’ll be off to Blockbuster Print again to place the order for them. I’m still thrilled with the way my cards turned out, and they really do have the best prices on the web for printing.
By Debra Wilson, on March 14th, 2010 We’re still working on this project a little. Basically, we have the design down to what its going to be, after another round of changes. The feedback we received from the stamp maker has caused a lot of modifications to the design once we started asking her about it. I wish we could have left some of the other elements in it, but if its not going to translate well and still look good, its not going to.
It also looks like I should have some other work coming to me in the near future. I’m looking forward to that- having something to do is a huge plus in my life. I’ve been leaving a business card or two behind in various places I’ve been so really hoping the right people are picking them up. I need to remember to ask at Its a Grind coffee shop what I need to do to be able to leave some of my cards on their counter with the other stuff people have sitting up there.
By Debra Wilson, on March 11th, 2010 One of my favorite people to work with has recently asked me to begin work on a soap stamp. A soap stamp is something you would use to stamp an impression into a newly made bar of soap. After visiting the website where she will be having the actual stamp made, I understood the design needed to have bold lines, and no small details for it to really translate well into the stamp. I tried several ideas, but none had the right feel. Finally, we decided to go back to the original logo design and simply remove the details and see what was left. After running it by the woman who does the stamps, I think we might be fine tuning it now into its final incarnation- I might have to buy some soap from her later so I can see the stamp in action!
By Debra Wilson, on February 28th, 2010 I checked the status of my business card order, and it says they are “in print”. I’m starting to get nervous now. Once they get here, I have no excuse for not trying to promote myself. I asked my mom if she would pass out cards for me at work and she said yes. I also asked my friend if she would pass some out if I mailed them to her (she lives in Oregon) and she said she would. I’m also contemplating asking people I have worked for if they would mind passing out a few cards for me if I mailed them to them. Can’t hurt to ask, right? They can always say no.
I’m also trying to come up with some clever ideas for faux logos so I can expand my portfolio a little more. Really looking for some fun and colorful ideas. Does anyone have any suggestions? I just need a few ideas to start my brain rolling.
By Debra Wilson, on February 27th, 2010 While I have been an avid blogger since 2003, I have never used a blog for business reasons. This will be a first for me. I know blogs can be an excellent way to get attention to your website, and can be instrumental in keeping people there. I won’t be complaining about clients or begging for more work here. Instead I’ll be talking about new projects and my business in general.
While I have been working both as a freelancer, and for various companies, I have never really set out to get myself noticed. Most of my work has come in via word of mouth- a client telling a friend or co-worker about me and my services. That’s nice and all, but it only goes so far, especially when the world you are working in has a limited number of people in it and there are several others competing for their business.
Recently, I finally settled on a logo design for Kittyloaf. I had tried several, but none of them were quite right. The one you see up above in the header image was the winner. It’s clean, smooth, colorful, fun, clear, and a little whimsical- pretty much everything I like to see in a logo. Once I drafted it, I set out to “draw” up a business card layout. Doing print work has always made me a little nervous. Once it goes to print, its permanent. Digital files can always be tweaked or adjusted. That done, I ordered the business cards.
I’m also planning to take out an ad in our local newspaper once my finances are in better order. I am hoping between the business cards and the ad, I will get noticed and be able to draw in some regular work. I’ll keep you posted.
|
