In case you didn’t know, I have a number of sites and blogs I maintain, each with different purposes. Lately I’ve been so busy building the business that I haven’t had time to update this site much, but I have been posting other items all over the place. Here’s a list of where to find me:

iMakeArt – A more general purpose site about me and my conceptual art

A7is – My portfolio site for more commercial works

Ottawa Video Production (and more) Blog – The official Hotcakes blog where I talk about business related announcements and articles

In addition to those sites, there’s also the Hotcakes twitter account @HotcakesOttawa that gets updated several times a day and the Hotcakes Facebook Fan page for major announcements.

So there you have it. Now you can follow me everywhere I digitally go.

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I’ve set up a new domain and website for posting all my artwork. I needed a centralized place that had a visual impact and an image based navigation system, yet also allowed me to post the artwork’s concept and details. And most importantly, I wanted all that to be RSS trackable, and have comments to boot. The new site is up and running, and I encourage you to view my portfolio at the link above.

So what did I do? I created a whole new blogging platform that allows me to post images of my work and view my portfolio in a chronological timeline. The new site is live now, but I am still working on the final touches (I will be adding a “recent comments” section to the main page soon, so I know when you people show me some love).

This new site will act as a portfolio for all my “marketable” artwork… that includes paintings, illustrations and of course, t-shirts. Please visit the site: http://www.A7is.com and be sure to bookmark it and visit it for all my latest art. This site will remain in place as a general blog with a variety of topics, and will still feature my more conceptual work. As soon as things settle down here, I’ll look into ways to merge the two blogs so the information is centralized in some way. (But first, I have tons of work to catch up on… my mexican client’s new website is a big project, as is my friend Jeff’s portfolio site… plus work for MC’s mom, working on Real with Dave, and shooting the To The Rescue music video)

So please visit the site at http://www.A7is.com and take a look at some of my art. Let me know what you think.

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I am about to submit a t-shirt design into a contest to have it printed (and win cool prizes!). I didn’t want to blatantly rip off Affliction’s style, but rather create my own that was influenced by Affliction’s oversized hand drawn prints. The result is a style I like to call “dark whimsical”. Want to see the full t-shirt design? Click the link below.

My t-shirt design is a unique blend of my own hand drawn art mixed with a modern “vector design” style. I wanted my design to be rough and dark, yet not completely grim like Affliction’s skulls and death images. I’m very happy with the results, and I’m very much hoping to win the contest so I can wear my new design. If I don’t win, I will still consider printing it myself, but I will need to line up some advance sales first (the screen printer requires a minimum order of 50 shirts).

So what do you think? All comments and suggestions are welcome! I’m also very curious to hear what you might think would be a good title for the t-shirt. I’ve temporarily named it “The Yummy Tree” but I need something better. Post a comment and let me know! If I use your title, I’ll give you a limited edition version of this very t-shirt.

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EDIT: I have finished the final design of this shirt, and I can’t decide which color to choose. I can only choose one color for the submission. Below are my three color choices… place your votes! What do you like best? (I have a preference for one of them, but I want to hear what others think first)

Although I am still working on building up Hotcakes New Media, I have been paying attention to the job market in Ottawa; More specifically, I am watching for the few Interaction Designer positions that pop up in this area. Since my main Hotcakes cash cow is now all but going under, business has been a little slow (which allowed me to work on finishing the basement). Since a little extra money, networking, and career advancement never hurt, I’ve recently submitted an application that required me to put together a PDF of my portfolio.

I thought it would be interesting to show the portfolio to you, my loyal readers.  So here it is!

I’ve attached the PDF version of the portfolio to this post. The file is 1.5Mb and is 4 pages long.

My portfolio

Let me know what you think.

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After looking at the update in detail, not only am I completely underwhelmed by the (lack of) changes, I’m downright appalled at the move Apple is making. With little more than a processor update and new graphics cards, Apple has actually INCREASED their prices! Both Canada and the US are in the middle of a financial crisis, with companies severely limiting their spending, and Apple decides to release computers that cost more. Astonishing.

In order to get a useable computer for my video production needs (i.e. 8GB ram like I have now, and a 1TB hard drive), the new Mac Pro would cost me over $5700 plus tax!! And Apple is still not offering Blu-Ray burners in the Mac Pro.

Looks like I’m stuck with my hackintosh a while longer. I wonder what I can upgrade to squeeze the most out of my machine?

See… people call me an Apple lover. But even I can admit when they’ve screwed up.

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After seeing what a drastic change my design choices (furniture, lighting, accents, paint, etc) made on the house, I decided some “before and after” pictures would best show just how drastic the changes were. Let’s get started.

Entrance:

Let’s start with one that’s not too drastic. The entrance was painted gray, artwork put up, and the side window has an etched frosting (which you can’t see in the pic).

Living room:

Slightly more of a change on this one. Artwork is up, area rug down, and furniture in place. The Arco lamp and cubes steal the show.

Dining room:

Now we’re seeing even more change. Large mirror hung, table and series 7 chairs in place, room divider visible, and of course, the hand-made custom chandelier.

Kitchen:

Now this is a drastic change. Walls painted with a faux-finish ragged glaze in deep red, lighting installed over kitchen island, black glass appliances in place, counter stools, and under cabinet accent lighting (not visible in this picture).

Upstairs hallway:

I put this picture up to act as a buffer between the last drastic picture, and the next drastic picture. Not much change here, but some minor design changes (I heart Blik!) liven up the niche.

Master bedroom:

Perhaps the “piece de resistance” is our master bedroom. This was certainly the room with the most work involved. Carpeting was removed, dark hardwood installed, wall painted green, lighting installed, wood blinds installed, and earthy accents in the comforter, pillows and chair (not visible).

So that’s enough of the “before and after” pics. More random pics below for your enjoyment.

Ensuite!

Main bathroom (featureing Keith Haring artwork)

Another view of the dining area, showing the room separator.

My office… still awaiting my blinds as you can see.

I’ll post a few more pics later, including a better shot of the etched lace frosted glass in the entrance, and the over-counter lighting in the kitchen.

EDIT: Pictures posted below.

This is the frosted entrance window.

A nicer shot of the custom chandelier we built.

The Arco Lamp.

This is the kitchen lighting in action.

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2008 was certainly a year of change for me; Not that any of the previous 5 years have been stale by any means, but 2008 was a year with large-scale scary decisions and accomplishments. How did I fare this year? Let’s find out.

Friends:
This year had far less drama in it than previous years. It was pretty much smooth sailing for the most part. I’m guessing that had a lot to do with moving back to Ottawa and seeing all our old friends on a regular(ish) basis again. I’m still guilty of not communicating enough, but dammit, that’s just how I am, so deal with it people.

Family:
It certainly was interesting living at home (and at the in-laws) for the better part of 6 months. I’d like to say it brought me and my family closer together, but we were already close. I’ll tell ya, the hardest part was living out of a suitcase in a single room for all that time. I do miss “family dinners” (read: ordering out) on Friday or Saturday nights. And oddly enough, I kind of miss the smell of boiled hotdogs every Saturday.

House:
Getting the house was without a doubt one of the biggest events of the year. It really occupied pretty much the entire year, since the initial planning started all the way at the beginning of 2008, starting with the decision to buy, followed by the choice of builder, the model of house, the mortgage, the construction, the possession, and the decorating. Can you believe it? Tartan delivered the home on time! And more importantly, we are home owners again! I LOVE cooking in my custom designed kitchen with my indoor grill. I LOVE my home theatre setup in the basement (and I’ll love it more when the basement is finished). I LOVE my “sanctuary”; my organic earthy bedroom. And I LOVE my iHome setup, working exactly as I envisioned it.

Work:
You would think the house would be the most memorable event of 2008, but surprisingly, it is not. My employment has the honours of taking the top spot of 2008. It was a rocky, scary, hard-fought but exhilarating ride this year. It started off with my with my work at Artez. Just as my contract was about to expire, I was contemplating bringing up a deal with them to do design work as an independent contractor. It turns out the CTO had other plans for me, and a vision for the company’s future. He offered me a full-time position to work as an Interaction Designer. Unfortunately, after the move to Ottawa, the work started drying up. There was less and less work being sent my way, and I knew the inevitable was bound to happen; and it did. I was laid off, but they were still happy with my work, and asked me to continue working for them on a contract basis (which, ironically, I was going to propose doing 4 months earlier). This unfortunate turn of events allowed me to set in motion what would become the foundation of Hotcakes New Media. In November of 2008, Hotcakes New Media was official, and off to a great start. Although having my own company means my income is a little less than stable, it has proven to be successful so far, as I have designed websites for Canadian Tire Jump Start, Relay For Life, Red Nose Day, Better Farming Magazine, and of course, Ottawa’s Premiere Music Studio, Studio MC.

What’s Next:
With all the huge changes from 2008, 2009 is shaping up to be one hell of a good year. I will soon be writing the pilot for my “Hero Complex” mockumentary sitcom, and with any luck, filming it by year end. Hotcakes New Media is destined to become Ottawa’s best New Media company, Studio MC is destined to become Ottawa’s best piano and violin school, the house is destined to become a stunning example of modern design, and who knows… the house might be filled with a child’s laughter (or crying) by year end. 2009 is a big year indeed. Hang on, and enjoy the ride.

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The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web (abbreviated WWW or W3). It is arranged as a consortium where member organizations maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the World Wide Web.

So what does that mean? It means that they are the organization that dictates what standards to use for web programming. But more importantly, why is it relevant? The main advantage to W3C compliancy is to ensure proper functioning code, and address accessibility concerns. For example, W3C requires you to have alternate text on all your images. That way, if a blind person visits your site, the “images” are labeled properly for their screen reader, and they can navigate the site and get a sense of what you’re protraying graphically.

There are a number of people who are all hung up on W3C compliancy with websites. I’ve been “called out” on it a few times. Most of the time, it’s from people who don’t really understand what W3C compliancy is, and more importantly, don’t understand programming and browser compatability. You see, the idea of standards compliancy is better on paper than the reality of putting it in practice. Unfortunately, Microsoft is guilty of flooding the browser market with their sub-par Internet Explorer 6. The browser is over 8 years old, and still in major use (over 40% of the browser market). The problem is that moving to full W3C compliant code on a website means making compromises to your design or functionality as a result of bad IE6 rendering.

Think of it this way: What if you were a writer who was forced to write proper English all the time? Getting across a French accent would not be “dat heasy witout da mis-spellings”. Sometimes you need to break the rules in order to make a better quality product.

Case in point: The Hotcakes New Media website is W3C compliant. In order to get my site W3C certified, I had to make changes to the functionality of the site. The main animation on the site is a Flash video. W3C states that the older Flash “object” code is not acceptable, so I’m forced to use Javascript to load the Flash elements. Now, anyone with Java disabled will not see the website properly. W3C forced me to make a decision: Show my site as intended to a large number of viewers, or comply with W3C and reduce the number of viewers.

In many cases, it is a more difficult decision. Because of how IE6 renders code so poorly, the choice becomes “hacking” the code to make my nice graphical design look right in IE6, or follow standards and degrade the graphical appeal of the site. As a designer, being forced to compromise your potential just to maintain a mostly irrelevant “certification” is a tough pill to swallow.

My personal approach with Hotcakes New Media is to strive to get W3C compliancy, but I accept a minimal level of invalid code if the benefits outweigh the negatives. Every site I design “starts out” W3C compliant; I design it for Firefox and Safari, and follow all W3C standards. The site passes certification, and is then tested in other browsers. If I need to do anything to make it work in other browsers, or I need a plugin that will significantly increase the user experience, I make the changes and test for W3C again. If it fails, I look at why. If I can get around it, I do. If not, at least I’m assured that the main reason for W3C, accessibility for the impared, is valid and taken care of.

So that’s my rant for the day. Hope you enjoyed the geekery.

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I promised you all something big, so here it is! I invite you to visit Hotcakes New Media, my new video production and design company. There is still a bit of organization left to do before I start taking contracts (getting a business bank account, setting up accounting, and awaiting delivery of my new lighting and chromakey kits) but everything is registered and well underway.

Today marks the official launch of Hotcakes New Media.

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