@Eric-Castleman @lmrush I sympathize with the battle against little grabby hands... I try to get some things done at our computer desk (with enough space for barely an 8.5x11 pad) but with a 2 year old and 1 month old, I haven't got anything accomplished in quite awhile!
@natiwata Thanks! I definitely sketched out a plan before going for it. I actually tried to use a projector but couldn't get anything to work, so just ended up free-handing it based on my drawings. Without the plan though, I would have been lost.
Photoshop sketches:
Thanks everyone!
@Chip-Valecek I used a spray gun (hooked up to an air compressor) for the purple/teal fade. It was a lot to tape off, but then pretty quick and easy to spray on. The ceiling was the only tough part. For the orange/ pink room, I actually made my own "stamps" out of some poly foam and scrap wood, and created the texture/ fade with them.
My homemade stamps:
I just finished painting my girls' rooms, and wanted to share. The 3-week old obviously doesn't have much of an opinion...but the almost 2-year old kept pointing and saying "Wow!" so it was worth the effort just for that reaction 
Hi @Brad,
I'm from Pennsylvania and work full time as a Multimedia Specialist at Penn State University (designing graphics and software interactions for online trainings). Most of my time away from work is dedicated to a 1-yr old and now 3 week old...but when I do find some free time late at night, I am trying to improve my drawing skills here through SVS, as well as building lamps and other décor items that I sell at a local café (and on my website). Check them out- always interested in comments/ suggestions!
I've had good experiences with Western Digital and LaCie.
I haven't watched the business video yet, and I don't have a ton of experience with making prints, but when I do, I go about it pretty much the way you outlined in the first bullet point- scan or photograph myself and then order prints online.
I have a few vendors I am comfortable ordering from now, and I've had no complaints about the quality, I don't think most people expect a print to be "museum quality" as you have detailed...but I live in pretty rural area and I wouldn't be surprised if there are different expectations in different parts of the country/ world.
This was my first 3rd Thursday since I joined SVS... are the critiques recorded and posted somewhere, or do I have to tune in to the live session? How long do they typically last? I'm on the east coast and have to be at work at 6am...so the 11:00 start intimidated me!
I was right there with you. June was a busy month! Finally made some time yesterday to throw something together. Here is my submission:
I'm trying to cram in a last minute entry too...beginning of summer is always a busy time! I did get that the kid was yawning, but it took my brain a second to put it together...maybe one hand over the mouth would make it a little more obvious?
@Rachel No worries! It was pretty much all foreign to me before I built my first computer too! And then, unfortunately, I became more familiar with everything when I had to figure out how to fix the issues from my PSU going bad. PSU, by the way is short for Power Supply Unit. GPU is your Graphics Processing Unit (also called Graphics Card) and CPU is your Central Processing Unit (also just called processor).
I'm not a "computer guy" so the best explanation I can give you for the motherboard is that it is basically the "hub" for all the other parts of your computer to communicate with each other. Everything gets plugged into your motherboard- your hard drive, your CPU, your GPU, your PSU, USB ports, speakers, everything. Your computer will come with a motherboard, you will only have to purchase one if something happens like it did to me and your original motherboard needs to be replaced.
As far as your other questions, just from my own experience, it doesn't matter what version of Photoshop you are using- I am still running CS4 on my machine. And again, I can only speak from my experience, but I have found laptops to run much less efficiently than desktop units for this type of work. I'm sure you could probably build a laptop that would compete...but I've always been wary of the life expectancy of a laptop when you are pushing it with graphics and illustration work, they don't seem to last as long as desktops, and at least to me, upgrading / repairing a desktop seems much easier.
@Jack-B Thanks! I started with a template, but also customized quite a bit. When I say "customize" though, it was all still pretty much drag and drop from a list of their elements, nothing I "created" on my own. I messed around with Macromedia Dreamweaver about 10 years ago, but that was the only experience I've had with web design, so I would definitely say the process was pretty painless and I ended up with something I am happy with. And the price made it even better- I definitely expected it to cost me more than $33/ year.
I would agree with the other posters here as far as recommending "gaming" hardware. Nvidia over AMD seems to be the popular opinion online, however I have never had any issues with my AMD card. Also, the suggestion K.W. made above about the power supply is worthwhile to take into consideration. I had a PSU go bad/ surge, and apparently ruin my motherboard about a year ago. I looked into it a bit and found out that was not out of the ordinary with oem power supplies. I purchased a new motherboard and then a "Gold" rated psu on ebay for about $50...well worth the investment.
My system is about 5 years old and still works extremely well with my Intuous 3 tablet in Photoshop, Corel Painter, and Manga Studio. I think I paid about $1200 for it.
8 GB Ram
Intel Core i7-3770 @ 3.4 GHz
AMD Radeon 1GB GPU
I actually went through the process of creating my own website two weeks ago. I don't know anything about HTML or CSS. I did some research, and talked to a few people, and ended up going with ehost.com. Several others said they used GoDaddy and had a good experience with them as well.
I paid $99 and now have a website up and running for the next 3 years. The interface was a little clunky, I couldn't do everything I wanted with it, but for the price and the relative ease with which I got it up and running, I would absolutely recommend it for a portfolio type site. I think there were cheaper plans available even, but I went with the one that had no ads or anything- which I think is important in any case, but certainly with a portfolio site that you want to look professional. I definitely think it's worth it when you are first starting out. Even though it wasn't perfect, the interface was very intuitive and fairly straight forward. Feel free to get back to me if you have any specific questions I could answer to help you out.
My website: http://zacksindustrialartworks.com/
I started my career out on a pretty successful path as an Industrial Designer. I had the opportunity to design products for many different brands and industries- lamps, power tools, way-finding. My favorite job by far was designing playground equipment!
After several years, several layoffs in a horrible economy, and more than a few moves up & down the east coast however, I was forced to move back home. I met a great girl, settled down, and just kind of sacrificed my design dreams for the sake of staying close to, and starting a family.
I was blessed to land a great Multimedia job at Penn State University (there's not much in the way of creative work around my home town), but it does not quite fulfill my creative drive. My favorite part of the design process was always the conceptualization phase- sketching and drawing. I came here in the hopes that some of my skills will translate, and maybe I can find a new career direction with more satisfaction....or at least be more fulfilled in one of my many hobbies!
Below is a collage of a few drawings I did during my days as an Industrial Designer, along with a steampunk owl character I recently finished that kind of pushed me to explore illustration classes, and eventually led me here. I hope to learn lots and also be able to contribute something as well!
