SNOW FOREVER

[potato_head]

Tons and tons of snow tonight. By which I mean um...two inches? ish? is what I'd estimate it's up to now. Tripper is THE HAPPIEST DOG EVER. Nikka is THE GRUMPIEST CAT EVER. I am generally not pleased that Tripper keeps demanding I let him out - or sometimes just stand there with the door open so he can watch the snow fall and wag his tail.

Uummnnn, most of the past few days has been adjusting to my new computer. My copy of Photoshop Elements 10 mysteriously disappeared (dad has a habit of hoarding software and hardware from around the house in an attempt to 'organize' it, then forgetting where he's stored it all...he pointed me to all of his current stashes but it wasn't there. The newest version of Photoshop is going for ~$700 and I don't even see a new version of Elements, which I can kind of understand because it's a fairly useless piece of software in the long run except that it's a great deal cheaper. Buuuuut I found Elements 10 on Ebay for ~$30, so I'm buying that for now.

Did I mention I don't like Adobe? Because I don't like Adobe. But I do need Photoshop for graphic design (NOT for illustration/digital art...I agree with those who say that 90% of illustrators/digital artists who think they need Photoshop, have been duped and/or haven't tried the free programs that are available). There just isn't anything else out there that can measure up - even to Elements - and do all the necessary functions in one program.

Speaking of free digital art programs...I downloaded InkScape on my last computer to see if I could use it to make edits to stock vectors (like the image I used for the cover of Winter Wolf) but was hopelessly confused. I've re-downloaded it (on the ubuntu side), this time with the goal of using it to actually create vector images, which I've been somewhat more successful with. (Look, vector flowers! I haven't tried doing anything with my tablet yet, I was just trying to learn the commands mostly.) I'm also trying out GIMP. So far I have opened it and then promptly closed it again in a helpless fit of confusion that was probably more my fault than GIMP's.

Okay I'm using the new LJ post page and seriously what is with this not-scrolling business, this just seems ridiculous. Whyyyyyyyyy would a textbox not scrollllll this is weird and new and I don't like iiiiit

OTHER THINGS

I've also been looking into putting up a profile and...general research in designing more ebook covers. Speaking of which, I'm currently looking for a few projects to build up my profile, just putting that out there. I'm willing to do them cheap (like, just enough to compensate for purchased stock images). Failing that, I'll just be doing some fake covers, so IF YOU HAVE A FAKE BOOK IDEA YOU WANT ME TO DO A FAKE EBOOK COVER FOR, TELL MEEEE.

Things I have done: narrowed down my portfolio options to a particular free portfolio site OR creating my own on a free web host. I'm leaning heavily towards the former, for various reasons...even though it seems most ebook cover designers are doing the latter. The only benefit to it for me would be being able to add an extra page or two (mainly a dedicated FAQ page if it seems necessary).

Also still looking at names...

....okay, this is the problem with the no-scrolling thing. It isn't fucking going down. I can only see half of what I'm typing. Ugh.

ANYWAYS, I'm thinking maybe Tod Kurtis? I kind of like how it sounds. Hmmmmm...


EDIT: That is not the icon I selected, LJ...

Edit to the edit: okay seriously how do I select a different icon. Ugh this whole thing is broke.

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Comments

[sugar-for-sugar.livejournal.com]

I like Tod Kurtis! :D

Ohmanz, I have a story I might want to make into an ebook format if I can ever effing finish it. I wanted to try designing the cover myself buuuut it would certainly be easier to hire you to do it lol! I kind of need to finish the story first though and who knows when the glory that'll happen. :P

If you are taking fake/joke cover ideas, I will submit a few for your consideration:

Husbandree of ye Unicorne by Brother Russel (a book about caring for unicorns in This the Year of Our Lord 1608 and written by a monk who's never seen one)

Having Bigfoot's Baby: an exploration of the personalization of cryptid myth in the popular imagination by Dr Phillis T Studdelmeyer (a textbook about cryptid mythology which draws heavily on publications like Weekly World News)

Which Way is Up? A Step By Step Guide to Finding the Sky by Montezuma Jones (a 200 page treatise on knowing the location of the upper atmosphere in relation to oneself, with diagrams, theories through history, pie charts, celebrity opinions, expert interviews, lolcats, and pressure zones slashfic by a noted meteorologist)

Ready Whipped by Junie Stursik (a comedic creative nonfic by a humorist who talks about her experiences trying to write a cookbook for lazy chefs, an endeavor in which she ultimately fails)

Amelie D'Montesseraud: The Unsung Swordswoman of the Rhine by S C Lamonte (a serious biography about a fictional historical figure who is fictionally famous)

[poto-heart.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, those fake books are fantastic. And now I have the problem of wanting to actually read them. THEIR NON-EXISTANCE IS A MAJOR OBSTACLE HERE.

and pressure zones slashfic by a noted meteorologist

*DIES*

[sugar-for-sugar.livejournal.com]

I'm seriously considering doing a short piece on Amelie D'Montesseraud now XD

And how fun would it be to try to solicit the interviews and other celeb/notables content for the one about finding the sky? XD I bet I could get some amazing shit out of physicists, philosophers, and space explorers if I could pin them down for a few. XD