Hey, cool - the graficalicus workshop passed 1,000,000 (yep, one million!)page views this morning. That’s not hits, ya’ll - hits are up in the 10,000,000 range now - that’s actual pages.

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about that - thrilled? Excited? Proud? Sure - all of those things! Now if only some of the nearly 800 members would play a more active part in the community, I’d be extra happy..! Just post an image or make a comment or two - just to let me know that all those visits aren’t from my mom, my cousin, a friend from high school and/or the FBI….

But thanks to everyone for keeping the joint at least viable - you silent masses - and take a second to drop a note in the forum.

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This

is what I’m going to use up front at the graffi workshop homepage - the links really work! - and I’ll update it each time I have an image finished enough to merit adding to the splash. Hopefully it’s pretty inviting - pulling folks deeper into the workshop’s inner workings - - I’m surprised that there’s not more activity, based on the visitors that stop by.

Hmm.

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Here’sthe four Robot Attacks! images all tucked into a nice filmstrip for you. Feedback on ‘em is greatly appreciated - -thanks!

Alsohere’s how they look all matted & framed up and hanging in my office. I like the look of the four panels, similar to the musician 4-panel images I finished earlier. Now I just gotta finish the female singers, and my life will be complete.

Not really complete. I was just kidding about that part.

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Robots Attack!

Here’s the new series (yet another set of 4 images) I started - or more like, RE-started - this week. I’ve had a robot image for some time now in the W-I-P forum that I keep going back to and messing about with. This one - the first that’s actually finished - is the first that’s made me happy - well, satisfied - with the output.

I hope to continue this series over the next month or so. Now that I’ve got a bit of time to mess with these things, I’m getting pretty prolific. Nothing great - it’s definitely a “quantity over quality” thing. But it gets me working on something every day, which, let’s face it, is the key to getting better. Basketball players don’t just practice when the mood strikes; concert pianists (hehe - he said “pianists”!) don’t just practice whenever they feel like it. Artists should practice every day, too. Fifteen minutes of noodling around can really go a long way to improving hand-eye coordination, technique, style. Try it - take a week or so and set aside 15 - 20 minutes to just work on graphics stuff, and I guarantee you that you’ll be better by the end of the week. Just practice drawing shapes, or experimenting with blends, or drawing abstracts and experimenting with color schemes. After a week, it will be a habit and you’ll do your 15 minutes every day without even realizing it.

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I

finished a project - well, almost. Check out the revolving images up there - it’s my cocktail napkins project, and it goes hand-in-hand with my stylish musicians project.

I already have a few plans to expand this series. There’s a Marguarita missing, and a Highball, and a Gin & Tonic….

As always,

stay tuned to the forums and the galleries. I’ll always post stuff there when it’s done - even before it’s done, like these projects….

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I like to read
other blogs or forums where folks say they’ve been “too busy” to do any new work or “other obligations” have kept them from posting much lately. A lot of times, especially after seeing these folks portfolios or websites, I wonder who’s paying them to do commissioned work??!

Not me, though. I’ll be straight up with ya. I’m not too busy to post anything, and I’m definitely not caught up with other projects that I can’t post any new works. Sometimes, I just don’t feel like it. Some days, I’d rather watch silly old TV shows or really obscure shows on the History Channel than make new stuff to post.

Here’s my latest creative effort, though (this will be finished one of these days. Maybe. ! . ) It goes with the coaster project I actually have been working on over the past month or so - - and I still hate the way her eyes look - she looks mad instead of playful…. there’s source files over in the graffi forums, in the works-in-progress forum if you want to play around with her (click the link at the top of this page to get there).

I’d write more today, but, you see, I’m really busy with this other thing I’m working on, and then I have to redesign a complete web presence for a major Fortune 500 client, and right after that, Coca-Cola is after me to create a brand new logo font for them, and…. What? That sound you hear in the background? Umm, no, it’s absolutely not the ACC tournament, it’s, er, the Coke people on conference call, and, um, maybe they’re watching it or something….

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Not gonna see a lot of me later this week - or most weekends in March, for that matter. It’s my absolute favorite time of year - basketball tournaments and baseball starts!

My youth team (the Black Shadows) had a rough season, though. We started all over (after graduating my team of the past four years that played in three consecutive championship games, and won one of ‘em) with a group of 6-8 year olds, and managed just a single win. Not only that, we wound up with the #8 seed (in a conference of eight) and have to prepare this week to meet the 1 seed, unbeaten red. this team has been together (more or less) for three years now, and their play shows the continuity. No problem. My guys have overachieved this year (despite our 1-7 record) and while I’m not saying we’ll win the game, we’ll play hard, play fair, and finish strong. Not bad for a 9-year-old (with 1 year experience), an 8-year-old (with 1 year experience), a 7-year-old and 6 6-year-olds.

The ACC tourney gets rolling on Thursday. Even though my beloved Blue Devils were bumped by the antichrists from Chapel Hill last Saturday night, I still have full confidence that they’ll win their 7th-of-the-past-8 ACC Tournaments. Yeah, they looked tired against Temple, FL State (who also beat ‘em) and UNC, but a week off will do wonders to rejuvinate both their minds and bodies. A 2-game losing streak coming into March should give anyone in their bracket a serious migraine; I predict a long run in the NCAAs for the Blue Devils - and I pray to the basketball gods every night that UConn & ‘Nova get bumped out early. Texas is playing well right now, and another matchup with them could be a disaster for the exhausted Devils - not to mention the payback factor the Longhorns would have for that blow-out back in December…

Baseball is backtoo - I actually caught my Cubs on the tube Sunday afternoon. I like some of the talent coming in (note to fantasy players: draft Pie early as a rookie CF - he’ll do great things for you in the long term!) Still unsure about Kerry Wood, though - now word is that he’ll be ready by “mid-to-late April”, although the Cubbies have been wrong about predictions like that before. If he doesn’t straighten out his delivery this year, his MLB career is probably over before it really gets going. How many surguries has he had now? And he’s not even 20 yet? Sure, he can bring it at close to 100 mph, but for how long? Sounds like closer material to me…. Prior should have a productive year, too. He’s as healthy as he’s been since ‘03, when Mr. Bartman (as well as numerous errors by illustrious shortstop Gonzalez) kept them out of the World Series just 4 outs away. Zambrano is the unsung workhorse of the trio. He’s had more innings, Ks, starts & games than the other two over the past three seasons. He’s also coming into a contract year, and I hope for a strong year with a long-term contract at the end of it. And now the bastard White Sox have won, so the North faithful need a win - especially after the Bosox won it all in ‘04.

should be a fun few months - - enjoy it!

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