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My new site should have more of my work, better work, and also more varied work. Illustration is one of my main areas of interest, and something I want to diversify into after doing a lot of hardcore graphic design for many years. 2003 presented me with many opportunities to hone my illustration skills including story boarding and book illustration assignments, and I want to continue the momentum.

For 3D illustration, Blender is what I want to master, but 2D illustration is still very important. So here I have tried my hand at Inkscape, a great Open Source vector illustration software. It is still in very early stages of development, but as you can see from this image, it is already quite capable.

I really had no fixed plan of action when I began work on the image. All I knew is that I wanted to do a human figure and create a believable feeling of space around the figure. I’m pretty happy with the results. One more piece of content for the new site.
:hehe:

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It had to happen one day, and it finally has. After all those images ‘inspired’ by the Elysiun Weekend Challenge, I have finally managed to complete the execution of an idea within the deadline.

The topic this week was ‘jewels’, with a stipulation that raytracing be used in the image. For some reason the topic felt like it needed an astronomical interpretation, so here is a bejewelled orrery for your viewing pleasure. I still have some way to go before I master the fine art of texturing, but better to get something done that lie forever in wait for that elusive perfection.

Before I started work on this image yesterday, I was well on my way to making a semi-decent human model (see previous posts for WIP). I felt it would be rude to leave her alone for two days after all that undivided attention, so she plays a small cameo role in this production. Look out for her in the pool of water.

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The head is done (well… not quite but sort of). The neck must go on. Since I started this model as a sculpting project from a basic geometric form, rather than a proper animatable face-loop structure, there were some things to clean up before moving away from the spherical head. For a neck, the head needed a hole at its base. That was easier said than done because I had added in a lot of detail for the face and the corresponding extra polygons had collected at the back of head.

That done, I started work on the neck. The back half of the neck was a simple extrusion of the back of the head. The front half was a little more complicated. The pronounced curve of the back edge of the jaw bone, needed some strange twisted geometry. Unfortunately, when I cleared out the hole for the neck, the faceloops for the jaw needed to be cut short. So, a new set of polygons were introduced (a mirrored version of the back of the neck) to complete the neck.

Then there was the matter of joining the newly formed neck-front to the inner jaw bone. A lot of vertex selecting, joining, and face filling latter, I had a completed lower chin. As you can see in the third image here, however, the connection wasn’t there yet. For some reason, even when subdivided, the neck and jaw connection formed a sharp corner. Some detective work later, a rogue extra set of polygons was destroyed, and the resulting smooth neck connection you see in image #4 was the result. Yay!

Since that minor triumph, I have started work on the flare of the neck as it meets the shoulder, and the shoulder itself. Then there still remains the entire torso, which we don’t really know as well as we think we do.
:rolleyes:

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Having decided previously to maintain the same visual identity as the old site, I decided to start off work on the new splash page. Technically, the splash page is a very minor part of any site, but in practical terms it is a very important step in the web design process. Firstly, it decides what kind of first impression you make with your viewers. And secondly, from the designer’s point of view, it sets the tone for what remains to be designed - i.e. the entire site. I liked the traditional circular motif on the splash page of the old site, and decided to try to keep that in the new one. On the old site it was a 2D graphic, but this time I decided to use my new-found Blender knowledge to add some dynamic looking 3D into the mix. So, my splash page struggles began with modelling the motif as a 3D object and then matching the colours to the original. I was quite successful in that regard.

As I have stated in earlier posts, I want this site to be a little like my old site but much more. Since I was bringing in graphical elements from the old splash page, the new one needed to have ‘more’. My 3D skills were slightly evident in the Blender object of the motif, so what remained to be represented was photography and typography. Others like illustration etc. could be added in, but that would make this almost the noisiest splash page in history, and besides, that is what the site is there for. I really don’t need to show everything in one page - just enough to reel them in. For typography I added in one element to carry on the same rhythm as the motif, and for photography I chose an appropriately coloured flower from a photograph I recently took.

The elements were in place and now it was simply a matter of going through that long process of educated trial and error and inspiration we like to call design. The typographic element fit in quite well to begin with, and the slant of the entire composition provided a natural position for the website tile. The photographic flower, however, proved to be more challenging. Many, many permutations and combinations later, I finally arrived at this.

At the moment, I feel it meets my requirements admirably. It keeps to the visual style of the old site while adding some much needed dynamism and variety into the mix. Now, at least work can continue on other aspects of the site. It remains to be seen if my satisfaction stands the test of time.

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It seems that I am always attracted by the themes thrown at the Blender community by the weekend challenge over at Elysiun. It also seems that I don’t yet have the speed and familiarity with Blender’s tools required to convert my grandiose ideas for weekend challenges into reality within the stipulated time. But, never look a gift inspiration in the mouth. Therefore I continue to look at the new topic every week, and ideas continue to grow in my head. Sometimes they are strong enough to prompt me to get working on them in ernest, as is the case with my current project. I had an idea for the theme “Myth and Legend” which involved a female model, so I set out to model one. Here are the images of my work-in-progress screaming woman.

More to come, as it is done.

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It has been very long since I last posted here, and even longer since I wrote about the great site re-invention project. But beyond laziness and procrastination, there has been another reason for my indecisiveness in this issue. The crux of the matter has been, how much �re-invention� should this re-invention involve?

To answer this question, it is necessary to revisit my reasons for setting up the original site, and what I plan to achieve with the new avatar. My original site was set up purely as a showcase of my work. The idea was to have a graphically impressive online presence which would act as an easily accessible portfolio for potential clients to see. This would allow me to further my freelancing activities. It succeeded to some extent in this regard, but as time passed I have come to realise that this old model was extremely one dimensional in its approach. What I want to do now is to have a more diverse site that is more representative of my diverse interests. Also, the old site gave no outlet to my urge to write, and hence had no involving content for the average viewer. The new site needs to be for all who are creatively inclined or interested, not just for those I want to sell my services to.

So, how much does the site need to change? Structurally, quite a lot as I have previously discussed. But does that mean I need to re-invent the visual aspect? With the initial fervour of wanting to change things, I was quite sure that this was an essential change, but with the wisdom that comes with active procrastination, I�m not that zealous any more. Besides, writing this blog was meant to help me in the process. As I have written these posts and thought and looked at my old site with increasing frequency, I have found that I like the way it looks. So, the question that begs to be asked is, why change something that you like?

The only possible reason for change is if something doesn�t work, and in the world of visual communication this is always debatable. While I like the colours and graphical identity of my original site, some of the page organization leaves a lot to be desired. Especially with a move towards more content, there is a need for clearer layout and navigation. Layouts will need to change to accommodate the nature of the new content, but what of readability? Conventional wisdom, carried over from the world of print, dictates that readability increases when dark text is placed on a highly contrasted light background, as compared to light text on a dark background. If that is true, the current visual identity of my site is in jeopardy as its very basis is a dark background. We must consider, however, that this rule came about partly because of ink bleeding and a loss of clarity when printing the black background around the negative white text. In the digital world, this problem doesn�t exist, and the readability of on-screen fonts is bettered with every passing day.

The technical reasons have been negated. All that remains to be satisfied are the questions regarding the perception of better readability of positive text over the negative variety. My personal feeling in the matter is that I actually prefer the negative variety of on-screen text when reading large bodies of text, because it is preferable to the ceaseless glare of a light background on a computer monitor. Reading a large article of black text on white background can be very strenuous on the eyes depending on the settings of your monitor. And then the settings which are kind to your eyes for reading are never the best for photographic or visual display. Thus, as a preliminary decision, it is safe to say that the dark background shouldn�t be too much of readability stumbling block. If a white background theme is required by some specific type of content (this blog for example), it should be possible to mould it into the larger visual identity of the site without sacrificing the white background.

The decision has been made. Re-invent the site content and structure, but only re-design the visual aspect to suit the new content and variety.

Now comes that minor inconvenience of implementing these high ideals, but all is possible with time and will.

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