Just a quick note in this (thankfully) slow week. Sometimes I need reminded that the world offline has a longer attention span than the world online. Twitter (which, yes, I use and enjoy) is often exactly what my brain doesn’t need: a whirling maelstrom of focus-killing distraction. With any luck, I’ll be able to read a book again soon.
Probably on my iPad, though.
Finally, my new picture dictionary for iPad, Alphazed, is available on the iTunes App Store. Free worldwide, it makes use of Creative Commons images, linking back to the original photographers and to the wikipedia entries. There’s a colour, an animal, a place, a food and an object for every letter of the alphabet, and they’re not the first ones you’d think of.
If you like it, please rate it!
In bed: “I’m too hot, and too cold, and too warm.”
I can think of no more succinct way to show the importance of graphic design principles than this.
On Sunday 15 May 2011, my father died suddenly. I’m flying to the UK in a couple of days, and will likely be back in a couple of weeks from now. Thanks to many of you for your well wishes already, and I hope to be back on board in early June.
Ring your parents. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
If you take a look at The Artists Toolbox | Animation Magazine you’ll see a selection of interesting industry people profiled, including the heads of animation studios, artists working on feature VFX, and me, with my iPad apps and editing gigs. Yes, that’s right, my face, my words, etc. Thanks to the mag for the profile!
Kind of a shame to say that I’m a prolific blogger about when I took a month from actively writing on the thing, but better late than never, right? Now, to get that next iPad app out…
Me: Can I have a hug?
Hazel: They’re all puffed out of me again. They keep running in and out of me.
Originally at the new Photoshop Family feedback site, I’d like Photoshop to encourage people to use it the right way, rather than inviting them to rasterize layers unnecessarily and erase where masking would be a better choice. If you agree, say so here.
Ranting:
Please make it easier for users to use Photoshop the right way, and harder for them to use it wrongly.
For example, when someone tries to paint on a text layer, why not offer to create a new layer that uses the text layer as a clipping mask, rather than the current approach: saying it’s not possible and then berating the user. It would also be very useful to encourage masking instead of erasing — so why not just make the eraser, when used on the background layer, actually convert the layer to Layer 0 and add a mask? And how about removing the shortcuts from the ancient, painful, destructive Image > Adjust menu and moving them to the equivalent Adjustment Layers instead? (Shortcuts should still work on Image > Adjust when working on a Mask.)
I think you get the idea. It’s too easy to pick up Photoshop and get bad habits instantly.
We’ve been making biscuits (which we often do on Wednesdays for Playgroup) but today, for a change, we had added some almond essence. We’re done, and she’s licking the bowl.
Me: Does it taste almondy?
Hazel: I was wondering what that taste was.
She’s 3.