I’ve been making updates to the site in the past couple weeks. A little here, a little there. There is still a lot to do but you can see some obvious changes. The updated homepage layout awaits custom illustrations to make those changes more evident. I’m using container overlays and texture illustrations that should bring it all together. I’ve also updated the fonts for a more grungy, homespun look. My inspiration came from those handmade zines one might encounter while traipsin’ down a city street.
I’ve spent the little time I’ve had the past few days working on the first cover illustration. It’s coming along, though not as quickly as I’d like. I scrapped a number of attempts, my hands feeling as if they lost their fluency with line and shape. The drawings were painfully juvenile. I dropped the line approach and went with mass, using a set of digital charcoals to flesh out the volume. Getting somewhere now and hoping I can complete the first drawing in a couple of weeks.
In my previous post I mentioned I had a hard week to pull through. This was an understatement. That hard week carried over into this week. It was the site launch from hell. One that never seemed to stop presenting issues. The day of launch I pulled a 15 1/2 hour day, woke for work on three hours of sleep, and continued the battle into the next day. Thank the gods I have had very talented technical and expert help otherwise this site launch from hell would have been a complete disaster. As of tonight, the gods willing, we appear to be out of the woods. This one will definitely go down as my site from hell for the year.
Beyond this there have been other changes. My company sold itself. For the second time in my web career, the company I have been working for has joined forces with another local power hitter. It came as a shock and I have had some trepidation, though it appears things are going to be okay, if not better. Unfortunately with this acquisition I’m back at the office, having lost the ability to work from home. I’m not happy about this but I have no choice. Here’s to freezing my ass off on a daily basis due to the air conditioning being set so fucking low.
Overall everyone seems pretty cool. While there are many things to be figured out when it comes to combining company’s, and processes, and all the other shit I know nothing about, it feels like it’s going to be good for everyone.
I’m being promoted to Project Manager as well. This is a welcome change. I’m burnt out designing and building sites.
Author: Jason Jacobs
Jason Jacobs is an artist, project manager, and frontend web designer living and working in Boise, Idaho. Beyond work he spends his time with family, as well as reading, writing articles for Uhmm, and working on his art. All words and opinions, etc., are his and do not reflect the positions or beliefs of anyone other than himself.