Cheeky Blog

Cool!

2008-09-08T06:36:00.001-07:00

I don't blog anymore. I'm sure you noticed. I, who blogged my entire life from the ages of fifteen to twenty-two, no longer blog.

What I can I say?

I don't have time? That's not entirely true. I do have time.
I don't have anything to say? That's also not entirely true. There are lots of things going on and news articles to read. I could have something to say, I just don't have any interest in saying it. If you were to page back through all of those years on my blog, you'd find that I've said the same thing a lot of times and I'm tired of repeating myself. (By the by, i love the "scooters, vacation, fall" labels example.)

So why have I stopped blogging?

Mostly, it's that I just don't care. I like sleep and bad tv and I work and I cook and I've just lost interest. Call it age or call it a desire to develop some semblance for privacy in a world where privacy has gone the wayside, but I no longer endeavor to share my entire world with strangers. I appreciate the catharsis it once gave me but there you go.

Recently, however, I have taken an interest in food bloggers - namely their yum-tastic recipes strewn across the inter-web, so I dusted off the old blogger account to leave a comment here or there...and that's when I realized that, in my absence, I garnered a few comments in my absence.

What fun.

They weren't approved until recently because I didn't notice them, but they're up now and, I'll be honest, they make me a little happy.

Two things occurred to me when I noticed these festivities. 1. What happened to thick skin? I have one. My work, what I do, it's been attacked before. But that's why you do what you do for you, not for the rest of the world. You do it because you like it or because your proud of it or because you thought it was a great learning experience. It should never be said that I don't suck. It should, however, be said that I can own up to those things, lean them up and still look at them with pride enough to say "Hey, I pushed through it. I did it and I got better." because that's what life is and as long as you can say that you can say something. So Maya Marie Haley, should you ever Google yourself again and run across this post - you should know, aside from the fishnet lines (which were sorta squiggly, even you have to know that), that post wasn't to say that you suck at your craft. As I mentioned, I don't know anything about your craft. Whether this is consolation or not - it was to say that your taste in music and fashion as represented in that piece...questionable. And that, yes, I question the sense behind turning My Little Pony, one of the fondest memories of my childhood, into an equine version of a prostitot.

The second thing, and here's where the joy comes in, is that the first vivid image I received was an army of angry teenage girls and their middle aged moms - hair askew, glue guns in hand, glitter on their faces like war paint, rhinestones for projectiles - rushing toward their computers, fingers flying across the keys, to defend a fallen comrade. And that, was fucking funny.

Update: The Gallery

2007-04-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I posted this but the lunchroom smells like Jenny Craig stir fry and my brain - it's the fuzzy. In any case, the gallery is well on it's way to being fully updated. I've re-uploaded everything but the icons and the resources - lets be honest, those are going to be a lengthy process so please be as patient as possible...not that I really care if you're impatient because nothing in my daily plan is going to change :P

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.

2007-04-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

I know i should have fixed the gallery by now, and those of you clicking through to look at my icons are probably sick of getting a big fat nothing but that's not the point. The point is that I don't have time. Hopefully that will change soon (like maybe tonight) but, if not, you can at least count on the fact that sometime Saturday morning I will find the time. (Yes, I like italics today. My entire day has been about numbers and it's fun to use the letter buttons sometimes :P)

Crisis

2007-04-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well, today I got the itch to update my g2 install and, as it seems to go this way everytime, i wasn't entirely surprised when I started getting error messages and nick informed me that I needed to delete and go for a fresh install.

Ladies and gents, that's what i'm doing.

All 1400 icons, all of the sets, the tutorials, the...everything...it all has to be re-uploaded, re-cagatorized and re...everything.

Fortunately, I'm working 9 and a half hour days...oh, wait, no - that's an unfortunately. Anyway, i'll get everything back up as quickly as I can. Tutorials first, then the small galleries, like vectors, etc...

Hold On To Your Chucks, Girls.

2007-03-18T23:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you that can't take a bit of well directed sarcasm, a heavy dose of irony and a good solid whomping of reality, you're probably going to want to skip this because this - well, it's gonna be one of those "mean" posts that makes people feel "misunderstood." (Incidently, in my experience, when someone misunderstands something, even when it's you, the problem is that they understand you too well - perhaps better than you yourself do - and that is offensive to anyone.)

Do you remember My Little Pony, ladies? I remember My Little Pony. She was great. A peppy little message, a happy hair do, maybe a rhinestone or two and, way better than those stupid Breyer horses - My Little Pony actually stood up when you set her on a surface. Plus she came with those great plastic brushes that had little patterns on the back and a handle so tiny that only a child could properly manipulate it....

Well, it's all over folks. Check this out.

If the image didn't tip you already, this is going to be another one of those rants. I want you to notice a few things about this. First, i'd like you to note the time put forth on this project. I looked at this and the first thing I thought - well, after I finished swearing - was "Woah, when did they start selling MLP's with rocker hair?" That is, until I noticed this in her description of the item. "...rerooted hair..." Not being a toy-remanufacturing conneseuir myself, I can't really say that i'm certain I know what she meant by re-rooted but I'm assuming that she either ripped out all of MLP's old hair and dyed it, then stuck it back into her head or that she ripped out all of MLP's old hair, bought some new hair in her chosen color (or beheaded a Barbie Doll and terrorized her long blonde locks) and stuck it back into the horses head. Either way, this begs the question - doesn't she know emo went blonde? Red is out ladies and gents - the savior of the broken and the beaten and the fallen and the crying and the dying and the bastards said so. And you have to trust a man who wears Hot Topic.

Then, when I was done thinking that, I was drawn past the bejeweled sparkely skull and the poorly painted fishnet to something else about this image. As you'll notice, she's kindly signed it, so that no one try to steal the fruits of her labors and claim them as their own - wise move. The reason there are so many emo kids out there is that they lack the follow through to actually kill themselves. I suspect that branches over into their art as well. Maria Maya Haley - yes, Maria Maya Haley - wants you to know that she, in fact, made this piece. Couple of things here - first of all, are those circular letters filled with cutout stars? Is emo even allowed to have cutout stars? She is so dedicated to the emo/punk movement that she still hasn't changed her screenname from mayanbutterfly.

Now here's the thing. I don't know Maya. I don't hate Maya. I'm not even sure Maya annoys me. I glanced at Maya's gallery. I saw a lot of things - but I didn't glimpse any razor blades or cornstarch blood, and I commend her for that. Hell, maybe she made this pony for someone else and maybe she rolled her eyes the whole time she did it. Maybe she was going for something a little more Angelina Jolie in Hackers than she was something more everything-on-mtv-right-now. Hell, you have to either respect fear or pity someone who is willing to spend the time it must take to re-stuff a MLP head of hair.

Why did this end up on my graphics journal? Because as I was browsing her gallery for hope that this might not be a sign of chronic psychosis, I found this.

Beware the filter.

Bewaaarre the filter.

icons100 Update

2007-03-09T23:29:00.000-08:00

I posted batch three tonight. God am i starting to loathe this project.

Guess What I'm Posting For.

2007-03-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right, more updates.

Cheeky Resources Image Gallery: I'm not sure how this happened but, somehow I managed to have this great big image gallery and no Matt Damon??!?!?! I don't know how it happened and I think I probably personally owe the list an appology for ignoring one of it's decade long residents. So, with that, there's now a Matt Damon Gallery with 17 pages of yummyness (and a few faggy turtleneck pictures). And, yes, Matt Damon can pop collar. I don't personally know anyone who can pop collar and not look like a moron, so I'm proud of him and personally impressed. That and, last night I also updated the Justin Timberlake gallery because I had high hopes that whatever Black Snake Moan - no matter how fucked up a movie it turned out to be - might produce some good production stills with fatigues followed by me dying. They didn't, but I did find some other high-res shots so there you have it.

Icons 100 Challenge: I posted batch two of my icons100 challenge with 10 new Guys and Dolls Icons. As usual, I'm not particularly impressed but there you have it.

Delayed Update: So there have been a lot of male additions to the gallery and, in the spirit of fairness, and the fact that she's pretty, Olivia Wilde (The O.C. and, now, The Black Donnelly's) had been added and has her very own home in Cheeky Graphics. [NOTE: if you're reading this immediately after it's latest timestamp, the gallery is probably empty. I still need to make the upload.]

Updates!`

2007-03-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

I've been lazing a bit on the update announcments over the past few days so I have a rather lot to make

Cheeky Images: Two new additions to the image gallery over the last few days - those Boston Boys have been killing me all over my TV so I went on a binge. Jonathan Tucker (Stateside and The Black Donnellys) and Bryan Greenberg (One Tree Hill and the soon-to-be October Road)

Cheeky Resources: Gilmore Girls bases are up to date for 7.15 - I Am A Kayak, Hear Me Roar! but I still haven't finished (or started, for that matter, 7.16 - Will You Be My Lorelai Gilmore?)

Cheeky Tutorials: I added this earlier this week because someone who shall remain nameless mentioned that they weren't clear on how to get that icy blue color just right so I thought I would write up a quick method tutorial. I don't know if it's the exact icy blue they were talking about but it is icy blue :)

Cheeky Graphics: I took on an icons100 challenge for Guys & Dolls (the movie) and I'm into my first batch - 10 Guys & Dolls Icons. Well, frankly, they suck, but that's kind of OK with me :) I have to admit though, I'm totally phoning in the stupid themes thing. "I uh, sure that could be about love...yeah...I meant it all along *shifty eyes*"

Project Update: In addition to continued work on The Light, my pursuit of learning G-Mesh in Illustrator, my icons100 challenge, updating my portfolio as I create portfolio worthy work, my off interest in re-skinning the site, i've been playing with hand sketching and manga in illustrator. So, ya know, just to keep you posted ;) Maybe i'll have to reopen the hentai project.

Updates

2007-02-14T14:21:00.000-08:00

Some updates to Cheeky Resources Image Gallery - I ran across an OK gallery today and added a new album in the Males --> Celebrities section for Alex Pettyfer.

Also, did you know I had comment moderation turned on? Cuz I didn't...but apparently I did have comment moderation turned on and now all of your happy comments have been moderated :)

Bases/Cuts: I am finally caught up on my GG bases/cuts. This week I uploaded 7.11 - Santa's Secret Stuff, 7.12 - To Whom It May Concern and 7.13 - I'd Rather Be In Philadelphia. I also have the caps from 7.14 - Farewell, My Pet and I'm already weeding through them to pull out the ones i'd like to use.

Icons: A few really bad Gilmore Girls icons were added today. I also added a bunch of quote icons. I think those are probably the only that i'll be doing for a while (i.e., making quote icons) because I'm really having no luck with the regular icons once i've done the bases. Maybe when

the season is over i'll do a Season in Review series. :)

Kay Does Vector

2007-02-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

...and for those of you who are female and unfamilliar with bad retro porn, you have no idea why that makes me chuckle.

Fifteen people asked me how I create my vector designs this week. I think that’s a cry for help if I ever heard one so, in the spirit of saying things once and being as informative as possible, a text based guide to all of your questions

What is a Vector? / What is a Vexel?
A vector is a series of paths. A vexel is a series of pixels.

The best example I’ve ever been able to work with consistently is to allude to a piece of string and a piece of elastic. Loosely tie the ends together so that they both form a circle, if you try to stretch the circle made out of string, it will break. But, if you try to stretch the circle made out of elastic, it will stretch without issue.

In essence, that is the difference between vector and vexel. If you’re just looking for the “look” of blocks of color used to create a design – item, logo, whatever – you can use pixels (paint brushes, whatever) to create a vexel. If you are interested, however, it creating a true blue vector design and you want it to be infinitely stretchy, you need to create a vector.

What do I need to create Vector Designs?

Software: There are a lot of different pieces of software you can use but, for the sake of my example and understanding that these are the ones I’ve learned to use and, therefore the ones I can speak of with any expertise, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

Physical Tools: A Mouse. No, Seriously. Do not try to do this with your touchpad.

Competencies: Experience and understanding of the pen tool. Sing it a hippie song, buy it a cookie – whatever you have to do, you need to be copasetic with the pen tool before you can create a functional vector design.

If I wanted to have the gravy train of Vector Design tools, what would I want?

Software: Adobe Illustrator. It is designed to work with high numbers of paths and, because of that, a high volume of layers. Therefore, it is gentler on your system resources and has superior controls (like gradient meshing). You can get by to do most things without it though.

Physical Tools: A giant monitor and a drawing pad – a large one. Giant displays are great for vectoring because, so often, vectors start large and are resized to be smaller. Without a large visible canvas to work on, you do a lot of the zoom and scroll. Drawing pads, on the other hand, those who have them would say are indispensable. There’s something intuitive (oh, right, that’s the way the human body was intended to work) about simply drawing a shape when you want to create it.

What do you use to create Vector Designs?
I use Illustrator and a mouse. In the past, I have used Photoshop and I do still for post-production editing, but I prefer Illustrator, hands down.

Do you use Stock Photos or Reference Images?
Not using stock photos and reference images is a lot easier when you have a drawing tablet. If you can draw and you have a tablet you can vector by quite simply drawing. If, however, you cannot draw and you’re using a mouse, stock photos and reference photos are sometimes a must.

What is the difference between a Stock Photo and a Reference Image?
Truly, nothing. A stock photo is quite simply something that someone created to be used by another artist. There are a number of ways to get stock photos – either through sites that create royalty photos – i.e., that charge for the images – or through sites like iStock, who sell low-royalty photos. (i.e., they are approved for corporate use but they are inexpensive – a few dollars a piece) Or, through sites like yotophoto and deviantART, who compile CC (creative commons) photography for people to use. When I say, I used t a stock photo, I mean to say that I found a piece of stock photography, I pasted it on to a canvas and, for the most part, traced it. When I say that I used a reference image, I mean that I grabbed a few images – a tree, a fish, whatever – and I opened them up, on occasion to look at them and remember how a leaf is shaped or to ask myself where the gills are.

When you’re tracing, it’s usually a must that you credit the stock artist. If you simply are looking at the photo to decide how far apart eyes are or because you’ve forgotten what an eyebrow looks like, you don’t generally have to credit.

Where do you get Stock Photography?
As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of places to get it. You can get it from sites that sell it - and, in fact, that is a must if you are doing commercial work. If you’re using it for yourself, however, you can get a lot of CC lisenced images through sites like Yotophoto – which search numerous CC archives. Or, if you like, you can use a site like deviantART, which has a category dedicated to stock photography.

Wherever you decide to get it, be sure that you abide by the artists rules at all times.

What makes a good Stock Photo?
Well, that depends vastly on what you’re going to try to do but assuming that you like to design people – and I’m assuming that since, at this point, that’s most of what I do because it’s friggin hard – there are a few things that make up a good vector stock for a beginner.

Closed Eyes: You’ll probably notice, at this point, that most of the eyes on people I vector are either closed or unfinished. Why, you might ask? Well, it’s because eyes are difficult. With Photoshop, your only option is to detail the iris by creating innumerable little dots of color and that can leave things blotchy and unrealistic because eyes are wet. In Illustrator, you can do it that way or you can try to achieve an improved effect with gradient mesh – just don’t ask me how because I don’t know yet. G-mesh is MEAN and I haven’t figured out how to make it like me as of yet.

Simple Hair: The more complicated the hair – the more stray strands, etc… - the more you are going to want to run away crying by the time you’re done. Hair isn’t difficult, but it’s time consuming to draw every strand one at a time. In ClickyLight, there are over 1500 strands of hair drawn individually. Yeah, you read that right. 1500. And, I cheated and made a big portion of the hair a glob.

Avoid Glitter & Sparkles: Glitter and sparkles are pretty – but trying to create them when you’re getting started can be a major headache.

Image Gallery Updates

2007-02-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

More images of Milo Ventimel....yeah...

Uplaoded

Lots of Updates

2007-02-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of updates today. Obviously, it you're reading this, you probably scrolled down and noticed that I blogged about the obsessive amounts of light textures being used but, if you didn't, here is a link.

UFG: I added a new up for grabs banner today. It features Hilary Burton and Dan Radcliffe (one of the new shots from the naked play everyone is in such an uproar about :P) and, for now at elast, it's called due.
Cheeky Resources: Then, in addition to the other days additon of Hilary Burton, Bethany Joy Galeotti and some major updates to the Kristen Storms gallery, I've also made a huge update of all high-res photos to Isla Fisher's folder.

Cheeky Designs: There's also a major gift for you Godfather fans out there that I have stuck in the gallery. Namely tons of icons from The Godfather. More to come from the first film and, maybe, if i still like you, more to come from II and III as well :)

Light Textures: The Take Over

2007-02-04T12:07:00.000-08:00

For those of you that don't yet know what a light texture is, it can be a few things. The ones i'm speaking of particularly today are called "dotty light textures." Here's an example.

See how there are spots, and how they look all...spotty. Well, set that to "lighten" or "screen" and all of the black will disappear - the color, however, will stay resolutely present and what you get is a great way to cover almost anything up. Lighten is a great function and Light textures are fun. I use them a lot - particularly in icons. Hell, this one is exploding with them. Course, it's of a 12 year old girl in a pink sweater, so, ya know, she's pretty sparkely in and of herself. For the most part, however, I prefer a different variety of light texture - subtle. Take this desktop as an example - there is a light texture that I made applied to that - it's dark red and barely visible. It's an accent, not the focus.

Why did I choose two different kinds of light texture for two different kinds of graphics? Well, I did it because they had a different feel. In the icon, I was working with a young female who had a great big smile and a generally bubbly disposition. In the desktop, I was working with an adult male pulling a total James Bond with the jacket and the pinstripes and the fedora and it was like the 1940's on a canvas - using sparkles would have been a smidge inappropriate, not to mention cluttered.

So what am I saying - when you use something, consider your audience, consider your subject and consider your desired effect.

Why am I saying this? Well, because today, ladies and gents, I saw this. Now, to spare this person any embarassment, i'm certainly not going to pick out names, but - oh man - did i laugh....then blog.
Okay, first - these are men. Men don't like dots unless they're kissing girls. At least the dots aren't pink, though. Second, I don't know if you know what show these men are on or from whence this image came but it's from a show called Prison Break (FOX) and they play ex-cons breaking out of prison. The show is about stress, death, guns and beer. Things explode all of the time. It's a show on FOX. Third, these are their wanted posters. What about any of that says sparkles to you?

Normally, a single graphic wouldn't make me gripe like that. Sometimes people do crazy things but, of late, light textures have taken over the world at The Dark Arts and it seems to have started at Pandora's Closet and I must put a stop to it! I must! I must!

Or, at least I have to go on record begging for the cessation of hostilities toward my brain.

Cheeky Resources; Image Gallery

2007-02-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

The image gallery, post-massive deletion, is being updated.

In addition to adding Hilarie Burton and the chick who plays Hailey on One Tree Hill to the gallery, i'm also moving into a new category system and adding some general descriptions to the descriptions feilds. Please be patient.

Thus far, A & B of hte female celebs have been moved.

Launching The Portfolio

2007-01-31T10:40:00.000-08:00

For those of you that check my gallery for updates, you probably haven't seen a lot of late and there is a key reason for that - I haven't been making any.

It occured to me, when I started trying to decide what I would show off to potential clients, that I absolutely do not want them looking at my actual gallery for all of the crap that would innundate them. I did, however, come up with a solution.

http://www.portfolio.bitterepiphany.com/

There really isn't a lot of new stuff there but there are a lot of things most of you haven't had the opportunity to see.

I've also been making a lot of uploads at deviantART.

Updates To Cheeky Resources

2007-01-20T10:41:00.000-08:00

A lot of you probably noticed that the Resoruce Image Gallery lost all of its Harry Potter images this past week. The zips are available for download for a limited time - if you need to know where, leave a comment and I will get you URL's. More importantly, however, there have been major upgrades to the Cheeky Resources Image Gallery where OC's are concerned. Significant uploads of high-res photos have been made to

Chad Michael Murray
David Anders
Johnny Depp
Justin Timberlake
Matt Czuchry
Michael Vartan
Orlando Bloom

There are more updates - namely for, ya know, females, but I had some dog washing duties to handle today ;)

Thank You

2007-01-18T06:06:00.000-08:00

With the reach of the 1,000,000th review at HPFF, I've been organizing a few things there and it's made me think quite a bit about my own reviewes and reviewers.

I have been a member of HPFF for a few years now and I've been a part of their staff for nearly as long. It means a lot of things in the day to day, but one thing that it doesn't mean are many thanks - so, for as much as reviews can mean to a person - to a staff member, they are inclined to mean much, much more.

As of this note, I have been the lucky recipient of 373 reviews on two stores and two one-shots and, while it certainly isn't the largest number the site has ever seen, I appreciate it all the same.

I've had some comical reviews - ranging from the short and obviously confused ("wow......very um.....deep") to the outright attempts at offensive (""). It's almost a pity that I've deleted the story now but, when I recieved my first flame, I threw an e-party - because you're not really a fanfiction author until you annoy someone to the point of leaving a snotty review. (I"ve gotten a lot more of those since.)

Knowing that I can't mention everyone, because there are a lot of reviews and quite a few regular reviewers, I feel compelled, still, to mention a few of my favorites. if you've been left out of the list, I assure you, your input was still appreciated.

As great compliments go, there are few reviews more flattering than the one Guilded Sorcerer left on Chronicles of Life. In fact, I found it so flattering that I was afraid to answer it for months on end - because I was terrified to find out that this person secretly harbored a deep seated pathology and was secretly an idiot or - worse, just screwing with me. steve34 was responsible for a very lengthy e-mail delving into the characters featured in COL and, as much as e-mails that compare me to my characters usually freak me out, it's nice to know that a person can find your characters so real that they feel a need to get into them further - to better understand.

Of course, one can scarcely mention great reviewers without giving a nod to timeturner, PhoenixStorm, and Crystal Allen all of whom, at various times, have followed my stories and left great reviews.

All in all, thanks to everyone who has reviewed and, here's hoping, to everyone who will review in the future.

New Pieces

2007-01-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

I have a new desktop out - Adam Brody, of all things.

it comes in all four sizes.

Valentine's Day Graphics Pack

2007-01-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

I've been looking for a way to distribute my stocks in a manner that don't require me maintaining them and, this, for now, seemed like a good solution so - introducting the graphics pack. Images, brushes, fonts and even quotes for making great ____. In this case, Valentine's Day

[Valentine's Day Graphics Pack]

New Project

2007-01-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

So I said that, for the remainder of January and all of February, my goal was going to be to learn how to operate G-Mesh in Illustrator. Now, I come into it knowing the basic concept, so it's not really fair - but my goal was to learn to G-Mesh like this.

Obviously, i'm not there yet. After having tinkered with a few failed vectors - i'm going to go about it this way and I've started The Light.

Latest Project

2007-01-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

Ranting Brought To You By Kay

2007-01-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

OH MY GOD.

For as many sloppy sweatshirts and semi-generic character/text t-shirts as I am apt to wear on any given day, I have a style and it has nothing to do with any of that, so I have a few things to say about a few things but today I saw something absolutely horrific. Now, I don't intend for this to sound like technical critique on the graphic, but the obsession with fashion photography has gone way way way too far.

It's always been annoying to log on and see 88000423352 different models living in people's signatures for no reason other than that they thing they may have finally caught the most ridiculous pose/outfit and captured it in a signature. This, however - this is just going too far.

Now I Don't Mean To Be Mean, But...

2006-12-31T20:55:00.000-08:00

I saw this today and literally almost choked on my own saliva.

What you're looking at is the result sheet from a tutorial posted on a website. This tutorial is designed to teach people how to 'shed pounds' using photoshop. Now, I haven't tried the tutorial but, looking at the result, the poster did a bang up job of it. What you're also looking at, however, is a Dove ad.

I don't know how many of you know this, but if you've accidently turned on the TV some time in the last six months, particularly during the day, you've probably seen a Campaign for Real Beauty ad from Dove. Their latest marketting gig has teamed up with Oprah, it seems, and is designed to use real people - not runway models - to market their product. Now, don't get me wrong, I've yet to see a housewive in her oatmeal stained bathrobe, but they have at least embraced the fat chick.

If you can't see the irony by now, i'll hit you over the head with it - they've taken someone who was embracing her outer fat chick on tv and in print and made her into a skinny chick, ya know, so she feels better about herself. They airbrushed an ad campaign based on not airbrushing.

Dove, I think you have more work to do.

Merry Christmas Accomplishments

2006-12-24T11:19:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I made a blend...if I tell you it was my New Years Resolution to learn, would you believe me?

Trojan Man

2006-12-22T00:41:00.000-08:00

Well, here's some good news for you - McAfee Spam Advisor gives me the thumbs up.

Reasons I Love Nick

2006-12-15T00:53:00.000-08:00

Nick is me...except he's a boy and his forte is PHP where mine resides firmly within the cozy confines of Adobe products. (Except Flash. Fuck Flash.)

Tonight I was working on a new skin and I showed it to Nick to see if he had any complaints. He's never expressed any particular interest in fanboying after me, so I assume he's not inclined to lie. The next thing I know, the lovely man is putting together a skin selector script that works around all of my admittedly insane tendancies toward cruel and unsual designs that change colors depending on what buttons you push :)

What's that mean? Well, if he can get it working and refrain from beating me with my own stupid stick, all of my old skins will be selectable, with the new skin and they'll all be updated and shiny and it will be wonderful :) Or at least better.

But yes, I love Nick. I love him so much, in fact, that i've refrained from giving him a nickname for his continued mental health.

Passive Resistence

2006-12-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

As a sign of passive ~~agreessive behavior~~ resistence against santa butting in on halloween, i'm butting in on christmas this year and not taking down the halloween skin.

Or, possibly, i'm just busy.

Cheeky Owner Say What?

2006-11-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

So uh, about being a bad site admin and not keeping up with things. If you're looking to write a book on one, I have some thoughts :)

Sorry guys and gals. I'll get back in here and get the skin updated soon-ish, i swear. I'll at least take the halloween stuff down before christmas ;)

In the mean time, I am, at least, keeping up with...well, TDA :P

Update: Gilmore Girls

2006-10-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

So i did something I never thought I would actually do - I managed to get the bases and icons, in their normal quality and quantity, out less than 24 hours after the episode released - meaning I have over a day until Grey's Anatomy comes out - and even longer until caps are available in good quality to tka e abreak from episode caps. And, hey, I went and took care of my rollerblading already today, so i'm on a roll. Now if i could just squeeze in some sleep between the laundry I have to do within the next three hours, i'd be set.

Yes, there's a party goin' on.

Anyway, bases and icons from 7.04 - S'Wonderful, S'Marvelous.

Come Again

2006-10-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

I've gone nuts

Rockin' The Reskin

2006-10-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

Hey, I'm a stuff accomplishing fool of late. Check out the halloween reskin :P

Soooo Many Updates

2006-10-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while since I gave an update and lots of things have been done since then :)

A new sub-gallery was added to my avatars gallery that, at the moment, houses quite a few Grey's Anatomy Icons. The icons there are made from the Grey's bases I made and released yesterday. Which, did I mention, oodles of Grey's Anatomy Icon Bases. These are from episodes 3.01 - The Time Has Come Today and 3.02 - I Am A Tree. There are a ton and there are more to come as the episodes come out.

This is a pretty late announcement, but speaking of icons made from my bases (how many speaking of which's can I put in one post?), I finaly got around to taking my Gilmore Girls bases and creating the usual episodic icons from them. A link to the lot from episode 7.01 - The Long Morrow can be found here.

Lastly, in addition to all of that, I was bored and tinkering with a blend. (Of late, i've made it my mission to be able to make them - i've never been any good at blends in their true form. They seem pointless and we all know how well i deal with that.) Anyway, I decided to turn it into a desktop because - duh - that's what I do...plus, Logan is so dreamy :P In any case, the desktop can be accessed in four formats here.

Keep your eyes peeled for bases and icons from GG 7.02 - That's What You Get Folks, For Makin' Whoopie later on this week and, of course, Grey's Anatomy Bases and possibly icons after the episode airs.

New Resources

2006-10-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

There are some new resources available here. I got ahold of some great screeners for both Grey's Anatomy and some mediocre ones for Gilmore Girls. In that vein, I am releasing cuts for both shows.

Gilmore Girls [Episode One]

I'll get back to you when Grey's 1 and 2 are ready to be posted :)

2006-09-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

*sad girl*

So I suck at the countdown but, hey, you'll notice that TDA has been getting lots of attention so shhh!

Remember That 100 Themes Challenge?

2006-09-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Talk about flakey, I think I give on accomplishing that- at least, that particular list. I'll get back to you. ;)

43!

2006-09-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Metal ;)

44 and a Quarter!

2006-09-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

I come, today, at least, to bring good tidings!

No, all right, I haven't made any updates to Cheeky Resources or Cheeky Graphics or deviantART to speak of and, true, I haven't found anything new to feature as of yet, but I do have good news...I just don't have all of the details yet :P

Go read the Wall Street Journal or, I suppose, you could wait until I get back and edit this with more details.

[Wall Street Journal: Rewriting The Rules of Fiction]

You may not be able to see the many many interviews with several of the HPFF staffers, but they're in there.

The Countdown Begins

2006-09-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

Updates to Cheeky Resources

2006-09-13T00:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't made a lot of updates to the graphics side of the site since I last posted - save one set that I'm currently using, but I did do quite a bit in terms of resources over the last few days.

Also, did I mention a ton of new light textures? I'm not sure if I did.

Art Drives Pain

2006-09-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

It appears that I threw my back out on the fourth and, after several different pain killer/caffine/calesthenic combinations have been successful to varying degrees, I thought it might be important to, not only take a minute to bitch about how badly my spine hurts, but also to note that I probably won't be making any updates as I have yet to find a single way to sit in front of.....well, any PC without wanting to throw up because it hurts so badly.

If it's any consolation, I did start a piece to represent Introduction. The concept is literary - I'm thinking along the lines that the most educated of men will never have the opportunity to meet the most influential people in their lives.

I'm also rolling my eyes at the TV slam ad's for local government races. But, ya know :) And, hey, in case you wonder how, if being in front of a PC hurts, i'm posting this, i'm on a laptop sitting in my livingroom in the most ergonomic chair I own with a towel supporting my neck.

Who wants a martini?

100 Themes Challenge

2006-09-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

I've, of late, been uninspired to pursue pieces for my own enjoyment.

(You can always tell when I start filling requests and challenges out of sheer terror that my skills will deteriorate.)

In any case, the beau helped a bit with some very basic desktops made out of some rather attractive females. (Customarily, this would be the point at which I would give you a link but, I'm reluctant to admit that some of the images used as stock were sort of...not stock ;) So I won't be sharing because, while I can't always say I respect the "no use" rules, I at least never put "no use" images, made for personal use, online.)

Anyway, with that abysmal news looming on the horizon and me staring in terror of even so much as embarking upon the task that is creating a new Author Page note, I decided to jump on the trend-wagon and give a go to this 100 Themes Challenge.

I can't gaurentee that they will all be the same thing, or that I will even accomplish it, but I'm going to give it a try out of pure boredum. And then, when I get done, i'll set my own challenge - the 100 Styles Art challenge because, yes, I am cruel and hateful ;).

Hell, even doing the 50 or so that aren't "huh?" will probably tide me over until i'm inspired to do something else :)

1. Introduction
2. Love
3. Light
4. Dark
5. Seeking Solace
6. Break Away
7. Heaven
8. Innocence
9. Drive
10. Breathe Again
11. Memory
12. Insanity
13. Misfortune
14. Smile
15. Silence
16. Questioning
17. Blood
18. Rainbow
19. Gray
20. Fortitude
21. Vacation
22. Mother Nature
23. Cat
24. No Time
25. Trouble Lurking
26. Tears
27. Foreign
28. Sorrow
29. Happiness
30. Under the Rain
31. Flowers
32. Night
33. Expectations
34. Stars
35. Hold My Hand
36. Precious Treasure
37. Eyes
38. Abandoned
39. Dreams
40. Rated
41. Teamwork
42. Standing Still
43. Dying
44. Two Roads
45. Illusion
46. Family
47. Creation
48. Childhood
49. Stripes
50. Breaking the Rules
51. Sport
52. Deep in Thought
53. Keeping a Secret
54. Tower
55. Waiting
56. Danger Ahead
57. Sacrifice
58. Kick in the Head
59. No Way Out
60. Rejection
61. Fairy Tale
62. Magic
63. Do Not Disturb
64. Multitasking
65. Horror
66. Traps
67. Playing the Melody
68. Hero
69. Annoyance
70. 67%
71. Obsession
72. Mischief Managed
73. I Can't
74. Are You Challenging Me?
75. Mirror
76. Broken Pieces
77. Test
78. Drink
79. Starvation
80. Words
81. Pen and Paper
82. Can You Hear Me?
83. Heal
84. Out Cold
85. Spiral
86. Seeing Red
87. Food
88. Pain
89. Through the Fire
90. Triangle
91. Drowning
92. All That I Have
93. Give Up
94. Last Hope
95. Advertisement
96. In the Storm
97. Safety First
98. Puzzle
99. Solitude
100. Relaxation

Typos

2006-09-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

I gotta feel the love.

There's a typo on my index page and, i assume, all of the other pages and no one told me :) Course, now i'm not feeling ftp-ish but later i will be and Cheeky Grphics will read Cheeky Graphics.

Congrats PEEJ

2006-08-30T22:17:00.000-07:00

If too much press could be bad, PEEJ would probably be sick of me blogging about them, but I wanted to congratulate (and fortify) HPFF's new friend, Del Harvey, on her recent successes in California, along with the staff of Dateline, several police departments, and the rest of the team at PEEJ.

There are 30 fewer pedophiles on the streets :)

Perverted Justice.

Queen Sabreen: Featured

2006-08-28T23:28:00.000-07:00

I thought it was going to be a smidge longer before I was ready to do another artist feature but I should've known better. True, not all of the TDA artists really suit my fancy, but I never make it through a months promotions without passing something that grabs my attention.

[Queen Sabreen @ TDA]

Perhaps i'm just feeling fluffy tonight or maybe it's the pretty pinks, but I'm not usually a fan of colorizations and I really enjoyed this image: (so, yes, i'm duty bound to mention that the skin looks a unnatural in the ears and the hair tone around the eyebrows has gone a bit orange, but the rest of it - the eyes!)

Goofy Signature

2006-08-27T03:24:00.000-07:00

I made the goofiest signature today and I thought I would share it for the masses to enjoy...er...poke fun at :)

Fun, huh :)

I also updated my dA journal, finally got around to making my Post It's UFG...well, at TDA anyway.

You know, now that I post it, it doesn't seem like such an accomplishment.

Oh well. You know, I did find a lot of nifty vector stock today and hentai references. That should count for something :)

A Little Deviant

2006-08-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, bored out of my mind, I decided to play a little bit with vector and wandered out a new deviation. Not good, by any means, and surely not my best work but, hey, at least I did it, right?

It was fun and i'm now inspired to do something with my software, which is good since i've been fighting the worst kind of block for a while now - boredum.

arnistotle: Featured

2006-08-19T01:20:00.000-07:00

Since I'm on a new blog and I needed a reason to post, I thought i'd start a new tradition - the infrequent feature.

Once in a while, in browsing Deviant Art, I hit an artist whose designs (whatever medium they may be) are so impressive, I can't help but take pause. A few days ago, I ran across one of arnistotle's sketches and had to stop.

The one I found, in a search, that caught my attention can be seen below and found here. I think what entrapped me was the lines on the blonde females face. It's fantastic.

If I could draw like this, I wouldn't be blogging right now ;)

Saving Physics

2006-08-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

The time has come, the Walrus said, to think of many things - and one of them is cycling out of an old blog :)

Thus, as my first post - I tie into the old version to an article I referenced about how the US is rescuing physics.

[CNN: Can This Machine Rescue Phsyics?]

Yes, my first question upon seeing this headline over Mike's shoulder was; "What's wrong with physics?"