Time for a Change

So if anyone has been following my blog since my first post (not likely) you'll know I've been meaning to re-vamp my website for a few years now. It was cool back in '06 when I made it, but it's now 2009 and in web time three years is an eternity. I think since early 2007 is when I decided I really needed to start thinking about a refresh, but at that time I was really getting busy with my artwork and custom toys. Needless to say that's been consuming all my time, so even though the website was always on my mind, it was buried far in the back.

Fast forward to late 2008. I started to think I should ditch my Flash site and Blogger blog, and go back to HTML and install Wordpress on my server. Since I'm a web designer and was a Web Developer/E-Commerce Technical Manager at my old job for a handful of years, I also figured there's no excuse for me using a canned blog sitting on someone else's server. Needless to say, the lack of time once again trumped me getting my act together and getting a real Reactor-88 blog, and in turn updating my website.

Now fast forward to two months ago. Seems everyone is opening an Etsy or Big Cartel store. I usually don't have much stuff to sell (most of my work sells through galleries or are direct commissions for clients), but I do like to make custom minis and throw them up for grabs once in a while. I also have a handful of older customs that didn't sell, and I'd like to do some other fun stuff like t-shirts, small prints, and maybe even some original resin figs and other goodies. So I thought it was time for me to look into setting up an e-store. After a little research, it seemed Big Cartel would be the best option for me, though far from perfect. The basic version of their store is free, but it's really limited and didn't have enough functionality for my needs. The pay versions were better, but since I would only put things in my store a few times a year I determined it would actually be a waste of money- and I don't have a lot of money to waste these days...

With that, I figured now was definitely the time to get Wordpress and a nice shopping cart system running on my server. I just finished a big freelance Flash/Web project (and promised myself not to do any more serious freelance web work for a while) and I've already cut way back on the number of art shows I'm doing this year. So 2009 is mainly about commissions and getting this web overhaul completed. I was conerned configuring this stuff and getting it up and running would be a pain, but Media Temple made it super easy with their "1-click" installs of Wordpress and Zen Cart. Thank you Media Temple. Hopefully the local setup will be almost as easy- I'm putting a lot of my faith in MAMP...
So I will officially be moving my blog to my own domain/server soon, as well as setting up a real webstore which I'm guessing will take a bit longer. Following will be a new website- possibly Flash again, or maybe a mix of DHTML/AJAX/Flash- I've yet to figure that out.

So to make a long story short, this will be one of the final posts on this blog. I will make a final announcement here when the switch over happens. But some of you might be wondering, "Hey, when/where are you going to sell that last batch of custom Dunnys you made?" "This was the only reason I read your dumb blog!" Don't worry, I will be posting information on how to purchase the Dunnys on this blog soon. Thanks for your patience.

Updated Reactor-88 Homepage

I figured since it was the start of a new year, I should start off with something fresh for 2009. Note- I've been talking about redesigning my four year-old site now for the last few years, but it's always taken a back seat to other commitments. I figured since it still might be some time before I get around to a full redesign, I should at least try to update my background image. When I first put up the site, I thought my techie/satellite/robot art image was cool and worked well with how I wanted my site to be portrayed. I initially created that image in 2002 as part of my Chaos Module series of digital art works. Well, it's now 2009 and while it still may be cool in some way, it's not really the look and feel I want my site to have. So I've drawn out a more organic vine pattern incorporating my Spade-Skull logo, but still kept it in the distorted, layered and slightly digital style that the satellite robot image had. Hopefully I'll get some time before 2010 to do a full redesign of the site, but until then I think this is a good start. Happy 2009!

New Toy Site Coming?

So my Reactor-88 site is almost two and a half years old. In internet years that's like dinosaur old. Granted it's gotten a few updates, but for the most part the design and code have stayed pretty much the same. There was the migration to XML to dynamically generate my gallery sections, but that was probably more than a year ago. So it's been in the back of my mind since last year to start thinking about updating "the reactor." I started working on some comps a while back, but got more interested in general cleanup and code optimization. Since I've been in a "code mood", I'm thinking about the structure and code requirements I'll need for the new site, but I'm still far off as far as the design and direction I want to go. In the meantime, I've decided to take on a smaller project to get myself in the proper mindset. This smaller project happens to be a subdomain "site" for just my toys. The pic above is a comp that will most likely be what the final homepage of the site will look like. Like it's older, bigger sibling- it will be all Flash/Actionscript. I thought about doing a full CSS/XHTML site sprinkled with some Flash, but now because of some of the feature ideas I had, I think it will have to be all Flash. But as usual, I have about a zillion other priorities right now (shows, commissions, freelance work, and that pesky day job), so it will be a while before this sees the light of day.

Happy New Year!

So it's now 2008 and already it's shaping up to be a very busy year. I stopped taking on commissions late last year in hopes I could slowly catch up on my list, but with 2008 shows and possible SDCC commitments, it's still going to be a long wait for all the folks waiting very patiently for a custom piece. On top of that, I really hoped 2008 would be the year I could work on some personal pieces that have been on my mind for the last couple years now- we'll just have to see how it all pans out.

I had also intended to redesign my website over the holidays- if you happened to check it out recently you'll notice it still looks the same. While I toyed around with some redesign ideas in my head, the actual focus over the holidays was updating my Actionscript so that all my galleries would be generated from external XML files. My site galleries were already pretty Actionscript heavy, and each time I added new content meant me having to add info to data arrays in the Actionscript and republish the site- not fun. It really started getting big and ugly, so I figured it was about time to clean things up a bit and get on the XML bandwagon. Anyway, the code is all set, and I just need to convert one more gallery to XML, and then I switch gears and think about the redesign again.

On the art front, I took a little time and posted a 2007 retrospective of all my custom toy and artwork on the Kidrobot Discussion Board. You can see the thread here. It's always fun seeing them all in one spot- makes me feel like I actually accomplished something last year :) I also have a show coming up on the 25th- the "Get A Grip!" Custom Moneygrip show at myplasticheart in New York. If you happen to be in the area you should check it out. No sneak peaks of my piece here either- you'll all have to wait for the show. And last but not least, I have a new interview up on the ToyToons website here. Enjoy!

Miscellaneous Updates

With the sheer ease of adding new material and pics to this blog, I find that my website updates are fewer and farther between these days. With that said, I just updated my site will all my newest custom toys. And as usual, while spending a few hours processing images and setting it all up on my site, I start thinking about how in dire need my site needs a re-design. It's hard to believe I've had that site up in it's current form for almost 2 years now- in internet/computer time that's an eternity... Anyway, I'm setting a goal to at least have a "signed-off" new site design by the end of the year. Sounds easy enough, but I've been saying that for a few months now. We'll see.

Reactor-88 Update

Since I've been really busy painting toys and canvases for a bunch of upcoming shows and trying to plug away at my commission list, my website has been neglected. So it was about time for a bit of an update. I added my recent Cereal Killers painting to the Artwork section. I also added a Shows and Events section and a Store section. Since I'm participating in a lot of shows this year (and hopefully that will continue) I decided to devote an entire section of my website just to listing all my past, present and future shows/events. Also, since I now have a few items sitting around that aren't sold that might be of interest to some folks, I've decided to put up a store section as well. Note, it's nothing fancy at all- just pics, a price, and who to contact if you want to buy it. Works for me...