I know I haven't posted anything new in a while. I guess I just wasn't all that motivated to work on anything and really lost my inspiration. That recently changed a bit and I'm working on a new series called We. I've got two pieces up, so take a look here [link]

So, I haven't been on doing as much art as I should. Thankfully, EveryRose is to blame. I have the new site up plus a MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook account for it. I'm steadily building up clients and content, trying to keep my ads up, working my "pay-the-bills" job, and getting ready to start school now that Summer is over I'm also working on converting the livingroom to an office so we can be more productive and have a designated work space. It is a lot to be working on all at once especially since I haven't had any time for personal art, my screenplay, or my graphic novel. It happens, I guess.

Here's the new site: [link]. Enjoy. Maybe I'll post a new piece later tonight...I don't know. For now, it's time for the day job. Have a great day

So, I'm doing a lot of small side jobs with my art and design to make some money to start buying back everything I lost when I was robbed. I've learned a pretty horrible truth. Well, not quite LEARNED, but it is a thought that has definitely been supported by clients.

I'm not one to badmouth people, but the number of cheapskates out there is RIDICULOUS. It got to the point where I either worked for nothing or didn't work. I decided I'd do ANY job if it paid over $100. Bad decision.

So now I have some guy who wants me to do photo manipulation like he's seen on the Ed Hardy site and a few other major professional sites. He wants me to put his models on a background, so he says. His photos he sends are UTTER CRAP. No wonder everyone else has told him they won't work with others' photos. His models are all cut off on at LEAST one side. What do you want me to do?!

I tell him for what he wants, his crappy photos on a background I have to somehow pull out of thin air with all of the edits he wants done and as impossible as he is, I'll charge $500 for the over TEN total pictures he wants done. He says he'll pay $150 for all of them and sends me my work. My new policy is ANY job over $100. Damn my new rule. I'm getting paid about $10 per picture to do something he'd probably usually get charged in the hundreds for.

He's bitching about the backgrounds. He wants it done very specifically. He sends me pictures of what he wants. All are ACTUAL images with the model ACTUALLY in that background. The only photo editing done is to the colors and lighting.

He basically is asking me to fix his crappy pictures and add them into a bright and colorful warzone but the models actually have to be there. When I have made some progress, I send him an email at the end of night one to show him what I have. I tell him I haven't shadowed her or anything yet but I'm looking for feedback on the background and on all the filling in I had to do to give her complete arms. He replies with "If you look at my site the rotating banner on the bottom and the hom page and top banner I did myself so i looking for someone to work with me for the long term, but they have to good creative work. the image you sent yesterday was bad stock image that the color was just change and you added the girl you did not even fade her in or shadow her in." Anyone that sees the half completed background would KNOW it's not just stock I changed the color on. I am NOT getting paid enough to be completely insulted by someone who created a really terrible banner.

He then sent some more professional images with models either actually in the location or added to a surreal digitally painted background. He sends more cut off models. He is pretty much asking for the impossible. I don't know what he is thinking. He now wants me to do several more test images. For free. He doesn't understand this AT ALL and definitely doesn't know the depth or cost of work like this. I have to fix the cut off images somehow, pull a background out of NOWHERE, add in stuff he wants out of NOWHERE, explain somehow that the picture looks off if the angles are different and he took the images at very odd angles, wait to be insulted, and try all over again.

Any suggestions?

YAY! I finished my first piece since the robbery! I was looking for a cool skin to permanently tattoo any new electronics I get to mark them as MINE so they could be recovered more easily if stolen. I came across a cool HP skin that just had a skull and said "Absinthians." I decided I HAD to have a Green Fairy theme to my new computer I just got and get to pay off now. I couldn't find a single Vista theme that suited my desire. There isn't even a green color option for all the windows, etc! Of all the colors to leave out...

So, I give you La Fée Verte, my first new piece since the robbery. At first I was just going to stretch the edited fractal to be my wallpaper, but then I decided to go all out. For a while I had bottles in the background but when for a more simple look, so I put a lot of thought into this. I intend to create a whole theme including icons Stay tuned and enjoy!

My computer, including ALL OF MY ART, is now gone for good it seems (in addition to other things such as programs and screenplays). My logo is gone. Everything. It is so depressing to have nothing but .jpegs when I need my .psd and .ai files! It's so frustrating as I come to realize exactly everything they have stolen. It feels like a year of my life has just been erased. I talked to an ex of the robber. She was VERY helpful. Even though the police will do nothing, me finding the information to catch him if I could has given me some peace of mind.

I promise I am trying to get back into art full force like I was. I need to start building back up what I had. I'm going to be working my butt off to pay off new computer. So...I am now accepting commissions, odd jobs, suggestions, and any other thing you care to throw my way.

Yet another update.

I keep talking to the detective. It is clear that I am just a bother and deserved to be robbed for not having a GPS on my computer.

My computer, including ALL OF MY ART, is now gone for good it seems (in addition to other things such as programs and screenplays). My logo is gone. Everything. It is so depressing to have nothing but .jpegs when I need my .psd and .ai files! It's so frustrating as I come to realize exactly everything they have stolen. It feels like a year of my life has just been erased.

I promise I am trying to get back into art, but I just can't seem to do so. I definitely need my own computer because right now I feel like a fish out of water trying to dance. It all feels wrong, but I need to start building back up what I had.

I'm in the process of texting people the robbers texted to beg like an idiot, but I know that won't work. They are teenagers not willing to help. Maybe I can get through to one.

If not...I'm going to be working my butt off for a new computer. So...I am not accepting commissions, odd jobs, suggestions, and any other thing you care to throw my way.