illugraphotoist

We've (I've) Moved!

2010-10-20T22:28:00.000-04:00

Well, while this may disappoint both of my loyal fans, I will no longer be maintaining this particular blog. I will soon be launching my new site (Studio Tom), and will hopefully be doing a much better job of maintaining the blog on that site. Not that that would be saying much. You can see it HERE.

I'll leave this blog up until everything is up and running. See you at the new location!

~Tom

Mount Olympus Drawing Complete!

2010-01-05T22:28:00.001-05:00

Finally a look at the long-awaited, much anticipated, and amazing [not to mention exhausting, mind-numbing, what-was-I-thinking, pain-in-the-neck] new piece of art! Turned out pretty good for a first landscape, and even better than I had hoped. All-in-all it might just be my favorite drawing yet.

Prints to come, pending sufficient interest, the right buyer, and a capable printer. Probably autographed, limited-edition, full-size prints only.

~Tom

Holiday Photo Restoration Special

2009-12-04T14:26:00.000-05:00

For the month of December get a free 8x10 with any photo restoration order! That's a $20 value, so now is the time to dig out those old family photos and give your family the perfect holiday gift! And don't wait till the last minute—editing, printing, and shipping can take up to two weeks. Happy gift-giving!

~Tom

Upcoming drawing...

2009-11-10T18:48:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally did it. I have successfully begun another drawing! I've been occupied with graphic design, web developing, and photo restoration for ages, but thanks to a special commission I will now be doing what is probably my most ambitious fine art project so far. It is a 20'' x 40'' panorama of Mt. Olympus (SLC, UT) in graphite pencil.

I'm somewhere between excitement and pants-wetting. It's more than twice the size of, is more detailed than, and contains larger smooth shades (the hardest thing to do with pencil) than any piece I've ever done. On the other hand, it could very possibly be my favorite drawing yet. I spent several hours standing in the snow, freezing cold and ready to die from the flu, shooting reference photos last winter. So it had better come out well.

The only problem is that there are only two surfaces large enough for this drawing in our apartment: the floor, and the table. And the floor is out. Which means we'll be eating dinner on the couch/floor for the next few weeks...

I'll post progress photos as soon as I can get them up.

~Tom

A question about our priorities.

2009-10-07T21:31:00.002-04:00

I couldn't be happier with the decision to give the Nobel Prize in Physics to three incredibly talented men. But I'm confused. These men gave us fiber optics and digital imaging, which are, for me and millions of people, inventions of daily use that hugely improve the quality of life (and upon which my livelihood depends). And the best we can do is make them share $1.4 million.

The CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac managed to ruin two companies with a combined value of 10 trillion dollars, sent the world economy spiraling downwards, and contributed to the worst financial catastrophe and unemployment rate in decades. And we, the people, gave them severance packages of $9 and $14 million, respectively.

I think it's time to think about the signal we are sending our kids, and to do more for the people who actually make our lives better.

Tom

CSS Columns

2009-07-28T20:23:00.007-04:00

Despite the fact that CSS3 is going to solve this problem, I decided to post my method for creating purely HTML and CSS columns.

Basics of CSS columns (in plain English):

Create a sufficient number of columns.
Make each column a set height and width.
Put ALL the text in each column.
Move the text of each column upward to hide what was shown in the last column.

Technical Explanation:

Create a div tag for each column, all with the same style class.
Nest a p tag with the full text inside, each with a unique style class.
Set the div height and width in the stylesheet.
Set the div overflow to hidden.
Set each subsequent p margin-top to the cumulative height of all previous columns, but negative.

This effectively hides the previous columns' text in a hidden negative top-margin. The advantage of this approach is that if default font sizes on different browsers change the intended size of your text, it will still show/hide the appropriate amount of text in each column.

This can be accomplished more elegantly by using PHP or JavaScript, and referencing your body text with a variable placed inside each p tag.

To see a demo, go to www.thomasvirginart.com/columns.html. (special thanks to lipsum.com for the text!)

Enjoy!

~Tom

Prints for whatever you want to pay.

2009-06-03T20:17:00.002-04:00

For those who were around a long, long time ago, you may remember that I once gave my Pres. Hinckley prints away, and gladly accepted any contributions or donations toward future printings. I have now officially reinstated this deal for both the Pres. Hinckley and Pres. Monson prints. The more you donate, the longer it might last.

~Tom

Reduced Prices!

2009-05-28T19:52:00.004-04:00

In an effort to make my LDS prints more widely available (i.e. sell more), I have [substantially] lowered their prices. Tell your friends. It may not be permanent.

www.thomasvirginart.com

~Tom

A lesson from the Obama Administration

2009-05-27T17:14:00.009-04:00

"If the Government can achieve reform and progress through greater transparency and accountability via weekly broadcasts and publicizing statistics, so can I," I though to myself. Yes, I actually thought that to myself. Well, no I didn't. At least those were not the exact words that went through my mind. But I'll tell you why it was a bad idea. Now, for the greater good, I have to expose myself and my projects to public scrutiny. It means I will have to post things that are unfinished or imperfect, which will drive me crazy. It ought to be therapeutic. Enjoy it.

I'll be posting statistics, and yes, a weekly broadcast. The statistics will be a description of where I am vs. where I should be on my Marathon training schedule. The broadcast will be a recording of some trombone piece or other that I am working on that week.

So to kick this off:

Week 5

Long Run Expected: 4.4 miles

Long Run Actual: 3.6 miles

And my broadcast (if this works):

Telemann Fantasia No. 9 (a duet I recorded with myself—sorry about the pause at the beginning)

Click Here

My latest creation...

2009-04-04T23:51:00.002-04:00

My wonderful wife bought me Corel Painter X for Christmas, and this week I found some time to start using it. It's so cool! It's very organic and responsive, with the ability to tweak the feel of the brushes to your personal taste. However, I've done very little painting in the past. And though Painter X is really an incredible program, it has a bit of a learning curve. This is the first decent thing to come out all week. The fact that I have posted a piece of artwork that I'm not completely happy with is a testament to the progress I've made in suppressing my perfectionistic tendencies... It is, however, close to what I was going for—something fun, colorful, and illustrative.

My Creative Checklist

2009-03-17T17:48:00.002-04:00

We're all dying to know the secrets of the creative geniuses around us, so being one myself (cough...), I thought I'd share one. A secret, that is. Well, it isn't really a secret. I just said that to keep you interested. It is a checklist that reminds me of the obvious, but easily forgotten, principles and elements of art. Which I do tend to forget. Hence the list. Here it is:

Accessible
Balance
Clever
Color Harmony
Composition
Continuity
Contrast
Curiosity
Direction
Fun
Goal
Humor
Inspirational
Lighting
Meaning
Memorable
New
Own it!
Patterns
Personality
Quality
Realism
Rhyme
Rhythm
Simple
Story
Subtle
Texture
Typography

With these reminders I have avoided more than a few crimes against aesthetics. Remember—it's not about what you know. It's about what you remember. So if you need to, make a list. Or swipe this one...

~Tom

Photoshop Tutorial - Whitening Teeth

2009-02-09T16:36:00.010-05:00

Whitening teeth in Photoshop (like most tasks in Photoshop) can be done in more than a dozen ways. And having done it in at least a dozen ways myself, on many hundreds of photos, I thought I'd describe the quickest and most effective method I've found. Here goes...

Open your image of hideously yellow teeth (like mine in the photo below).

Open a Hue & Saturation adjustment layer (from the half-black, half-white circle at the bottom of your layers palette. Going to image > adjustments > hue and saturation will not work. You'll see why...). In the drop-down box that says "Master," select "Yellows." Slide your lightness all the way to the right. Click OK.

You can see that the skin looks splotchy where the yellows were both lightened and desaturated. The teeth are much improved, but overdone.

Invert the adjustment layer mask by clicking on it in the layers palette, and press cmmd/ctrl-i. This should hide the effect. With the mask still selected, paint the effect back in over the teeth with a medium-sized, soft, white brush.

Still too strong, so lower the opacity of the adjustment layer to about 50%, and voila.

It's an extremely fast, non-destructive, and effective method of whitening teeth in Photoshop.

~Tom

Manfrotto 458B Neo Tec Pro Photo Tripod Review

2009-02-09T12:16:00.005-05:00

I was a lucky, lucky little boy this Christmas. My father-in-law was kind enough to give me the Manfrotto Neo Tec Tripod and Manfrotto Compact Ballhead with Rapid Connect Plate (to replace my Benro carbon fiber tripod with compact ballhead that was stolen during a flight in September). I've been using it frequently, and hope this brief review will be helpful to those of you who are looking to buy a new tripod.

Price - $365
Rating - 8 out of 10
Pros - Wicked fast. And easy to use. And did I mention fast? It's really as cool a mechanism as it looks/sounds. All you do is pull the legs out, and you're ready to shoot. Push the buttons at the top of each leg, and the whole thing collapses back down. The legs are thick and stable. The biggest complaint I had with my Benro was that the smallest leg section was too small, and pretty flexible, so there was a lot more movement and vibration than I ever get with this tripod. The rubberized carrying strap is nice. The bubble-level is nice. The legs can be positioned so the tripod is almost flat on the ground, which I find useful, since I do that sort of thing. The rubber feet do a good job of keeping the legs from slipping and moving. Another complaint I had with my old tripod was that sand and dirt got into the legs, which made tightening, untightening, and extending them more difficult. The bottom leg section of this tripod is on the outside, rather than the inside, meaning that the first connection between leg sections is about 18 inches off the ground. No more sand problems. Brilliant. And I like the weight. It's not too heavy to carry around (not nearly as bad as studio tripods), but heavy enough to keep your camera very stable even in strong wind. For 30 minute exposures. Perfect.
Cons - The mechanism for positioning the center column horizontally is about the worst idea I've seen since avacado icecream (no offense to you avacado-icecream-lovers out there...maybe you'll like this feature). You actually have to twist the bottom of the center column (for a while) before the head mount comes off. Then you loosten the adjustment knob for the center column, remove the column, and stick it through a different hole in the top mechanism. You then replace the head mount by re-tightening the bottom of the center column. Sound fun? It isn't. At least it can go horizontal... Other than that, I can't think of another complaint I've had with it.

My pet-peave is stupid tripods. I always use a tripod. And a ballhead. And a wireless-shutter release. And mirror lock-up. So if you're also a little neurotic about sharp images, and are in the market for a new tripod, (and have $400 to drop on one) I highly recommend the Manfrotto Neo Tec. And everyone else can go eat avacado icecream.

~Tom

What the heck is a giclée print (and other things you should know before buying fine art prints)?

2009-02-07T15:04:00.009-05:00

Before buying a fine art print there are [at least] two things you should know.

All printers are not created equal. For example, comparing your home printer to a high-end commercial ink-jet or digital press is something like the comparison between a Geo Metro and a Ferrari. They are similar in terms of their basic intended use, but the similarities stop there. Compared to a real printer, chances are good that your printer uses less durable parts, lower-quality ink, poorer software, worse paper, and is capable of fewer, smaller, less durable, and lower-resolution prints. So why buy one? Because the Metro-Ferrari comparison is pretty accurate in terms of pricing too...
All prints are not created equal. There is a difference between printing and printmaking. Printing is a process that (now) involves digitizing a piece of artwork and reproducing it with a digital or lithographic press in high volume. The color can be drastically different from the original, results will vary from press to press, but the cost-per-print is quite low. Printmaking involves digitizing artwork with a carefully calibrated, high-resolution scanner, adjusting the color and values of the digital file to match the original, printing swatches on a high-quality ink-jet printer on profiled fine art papers (canvas, watercolor, etc.), comparing them to the original under different types of light, and repeating the process again and again until the final product is indiscernible from the original artwork. The cost per-print is quite high, but they can be produced one at a time on demand, with little or no effort in the future. These are known as "giclée" prints (French for "sprayed ink").

So how can you recognize one from the other?

Price
Place
Paper
Pencil
Purples.

The price (unless the artist or vendor is gouging you) should be pretty low for a digital or lithographic print ($10 to $100). A limited-edition giclée ("limited-edition" and "giclée" are often the same thing, but not always) should run you at least $50, but will usually be between $200 and $1000.

The place that you found the print should also be an indicator. You will not find a giclée in Target or Pottery Barn. You will likely only find one in the artist's studio, website, or a high-end gallery.

Look at the grain and color of the paper. A watercolor-paper, canvas, or other nicely textured, heavy paper is a good indicator of a good print. An ultra-smooth, ultra-white, heavy paper can also be a good sign, but is harder for most people to tell apart from the slightly less white, less heavy, and less expensive paper characteristic of cheap prints.

Pencil signatures (and numbers) are a good sign. It means the artist really took the time to sign the print, which he or she would not have done were there ten or twenty thousand made. Pencil is also difficult to fake, as it is a dull gray, but quite shiny when light reflects off of it.

Purple is notoriously difficult to print. Not any purple, but a deep, vibrant, bluish-purple. Recent advances in ink-jet inks have made them possible to print. So chances are good that if you find a print with that beautiful, shocking purple, it's worth what they're charging for it.

Whether or not you like a piece of art is largely subjective. What you pay for a fine art print is largely objective. Do your homework, pay close attention, and remember—buy Thomas Virgin Art products wherever they are sold!

~Tom

What the...?

2009-01-27T18:46:00.002-05:00

I don't know what happened to make the typography of that last post so bad—sorry! I'll work on it...

~Tom

P.S. Please feel free to make requests or suggestions for articles or tutorials. I want this blog to be as helpful a resource as possible. Thanks.

Getting the most out of your digital camera

2009-01-27T17:13:00.013-05:00

Do you know why your camera has more than an ON/OFF button and the "Big Round Button?"

Good. Neither do I.

Well, that's not true, but it is a source of constant amazement to me that they keep sticking all those buttons on cameras. Really, how many do YOU use? Well, hopefully by the end of this post you will dare to use a few more of them...

When my wife and I were first married, the only bit of wedding money that didn't go to our first month's rent went toward a great little Canon S70 point-and-shoot. I didn't know a dang thing about photography. Or cameras. Or how to use them. So I just started taking pictures. It went something like this:

Turn on...aim...fire. "Why the heck does it look so dark?!" Delete (the reason people buy digital cameras).

Blurry. Delete. Too slow. Delete. "Where's the flash?" Delete. "How do you turn the flash OFF?" Delete.

And so on. About one good shot out of every twenty, on a good day.

Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so. And you've probably wondered what all those different picture settings are for. Unless, of course, you read the manual. But I'll assume you didn't, which is probably a safe bet, because either you are a man (and you just don't do that kind of thing), you bought it on ebay and it didn't come with one, you're one of those people who don't have the time to read manuals, or the manual was a direct and literal translation from Japanese, and was just plain incomprehensible. OK. The settings. There's probably a little head, a little running-man, maybe a mountain, a flower, and if you're lucky a video camera. If you're really lucky you'll just have a bunch of confusing letters that mean nothing at all. First, some basics.

Apertures, Shutters, and ISO, oh my!

If you boil down a camera (figuratively, of course. You never know who reads these blogs...), it is essentially a box with a hole in it, and a piece of plastic. Light comes in the hole and shines on the plastic. It just so happens that the plastic is sensitive to light, and burns when the light hits it. If part of the image shining onto the plastic is brighter, that part will burn faster. Eventually you want to cover the hole, so that all the plastic doesn't burn. You are left with a piece of plastic with an inverse image burned onto it. And that's photography.

This may sound familiar. It is called a 'Pinhole Camera.' Why would that sound familiar? Because every photography course makes you do one, and every photography book talks about them. Why? Because public education is all about presenting irrelevant and outdated material. Just kidding. It is because pinhole cameras are photography in its most simple form. The box is the 'camera body.' The plastic is the 'film,' or 'negative.' The hole, in this case, is the 'aperture,' 'lens,' and 'shutter.'

This may sound somewhat irrelevant, due to the fact that we are discussing DIGITAL photography. It isn't. Why? Because digital cameras were designed to mimic film photography. Even Photoshop (which I'm pretty sure everyone has at least heard of), a computer program for digital manipulation, is based primarily on methods used to manipulate and develop film. So this example is still relevant.

Next, what is your eyeball? An enclosure with a lens and hole in front, and a light-sensitive material in the back. The lens (cornea) makes sure that the image of an object is displayed clearly, depending on how near or far the object is, onto the back (retina), and the hole (pupil) allows light in. However, to control the amount of light entering, a mechanism (iris) adjusts the size of the hole.

This is even more similar to the type of camera you are using. Your camera has a glass lens that acts as a cornea, an iris that expands and constricts to control the flow of light, and a light-sensitive sensor inside the camera. That covers the essential and basic elements of camera anatomy. Now for the terminology.

Aperture. This is the size of the iris, or the opening that allows light into your camera. As it constricts to stop more light, the 'f stops' increase. And as it expands to let in more light, the f stops decrease.

Shutter. This is simply a small mechanism that opens when the "big round button" is pushed, and closes after a certain amount of time. Measured as your 'shutter speed' in seconds or fractions of a second.

ISO. The sensitivity of your camera sensor (or film) to light. You need to know that because it can be adjusted. ISO 100 is half as sensitive to light than ISO 200. Same for ISO 400 and ISO 800.

Before we go into how and when to use those settings, lets talk about what you don't want:

Blurriness (motion blur). This is caused by a shutter speed that is too slow (long) for the speed of the object you are shooting, shakiness of your hands, or the instability of your camera.

Out of focus (lens blur). This is caused by the lens being focused too close or too far. The lens is not out of focus—your subject is.

Too dark. A result of the sensor not being exposed to enough light.

Too bright. A result of the sensor being exposed to too much light.

Noise (graininess, or tiny colored dots, usually in darker images). The result of a high ISO, and not enough light.

Aberration (colored outlines near the edge of your image). Usually the sign of a cheap lens.

Weird colors. The result of your camera being more sensitive to the color or 'temperature' of light than your eyes are. Fluorescent shows up more green, incandescent more yellow, shadow and flash more blue, etc.

What to do about it

Here are some settings, as well as when and how to use them:

Wide Aperture (e.g. anything from f1 to f4 or f5.6)

When? In low light, for fast shots, or to blur a background.

Why? A wide aperture lets in more light, allowing you to take pictures in darker circumstances. It also lets in more stray light rays, which cause the extra-blurry background.

Camera Setting: the little flower, macro, AV (aperture priority) or M (manual, which allows you to set your aperture and shutter settings) and turning the number down as low as it will go.

Small Aperture (e.g. anything from f5.6 to f16 or higher)

When? In bright light, for slow shots (intentionally blurring a water fountain or cars, etc.), and for shots where you want as much as possible in focus (family portraits or landscapes).

Why? A small aperture lets in less light, and like squinting, reduces stray light and brings more into focus. It also requires a slower shutter speed, and therefore a tripod (usually).

Camera Setting: the little mountain, AV or M at a higher number.

Fast Shutter Speed (1/60 or faster. Your camera may go up to 1/2000 or faster)

When? In bright light, or for fast moving objects.

Why? Fast moving objects will look blurry unless your shutter opens and closes even faster. And in bright light your picture will look too bright unless you use a fast shutter speed.

Camera Setting: the little running man, sports mode, TV (shutter priority) at a smaller fraction, or M with the shutter speed at 1/60 or faster. In AV setting a wider aperture (lower number) will work too.

Slow Shutter Speed (1/60 or slower, going as long as 30 seconds, or even hours depending on your camera)

When? In low light, or for intentionally blurring objects.

Why? Any movement of lit objects will show up in the picture, and look blurry. It can be cool for night traffic, stars, etc. The longer the shutter is open, the brighter your picture will look.

Camera Setting: TV at 1/60 or slower, AV at a bigger number, or M which allows you to do both simultaneously.

ISO

When? You want to leave it at 100 or 200 as much as possible. The image quality will be better. Only raise it when your aperture is wide open and the pictures still come out blurry, usually in darker situations.

Why? With a higher sensitivity to light you will be able to set a faster shutter speed, and therefore less motion blur. But you'll start to get more noise, or grain.

Camera Setting: P (program), or any of the other "letter" settings will let you change the ISO.

A few other useful hints

The little mountain setting makes your blues and greens look even more vivid.

The little head/profile makes skin tones look nicer.

AWB is Auto White Balance. Use it, unless you know why you're not.

Use a tripod as much as you can. Your pictures will look much (much) more clear.

Zoom in. In addition to making the picture more interesting, it will also reduce the aberration on the edges of your picture.

To focus, hold the "big round button" half-way down first. It will blink a little red square on the part of the picture that will be in focus. Without letting up, push it down all the way to take the picture.

If you know how to turn your flash off, do it as often as you can. Your pictures will look less like snap-shots that way.

Use P, or Program Mode, if you want the camera to figure out the aperture and shutter speed. It will let YOU choose ISO, and flash ON/OFF.

Auto will do everything for you. Not always a good thing.

And if you do any editing at all in Photoshop Elements, or another editing program, CALIBRATE YOUR MONITOR. Otherwise your prints will come out looking waaaay different.

I hope that was helpful, thanks for reading, and remember to buy Thomas Virgin Art products wherever they are sold!

~Tom

What Everyone Ought To Know About Design

2009-01-19T18:15:00.019-05:00

(This post is dedicated to everyone who hasn't deleted Comic Sans from their operating system, thinks that rainbow gradients are pretty, who mindlessly puts drop shadows on everything, and who thinks that designers are just a bunch of gothic punks with millions of fonts installed on their silly Macintosh Computers. If you fall into any of those categories, don't admit it—just make sure no one is watching, then read the rest of this post.)

The Point of Design
Design exists for a very specific set of purposes. 1) to make you buy things. 2) to make information legible [so you know where and how to buy things]. 3) to make information beautiful [so that you feel all good inside, and then go buy things]. 4) to catch people's attention, and get something to stick in their mind [so they remember to go buy things].

If this sounds incredibly cynical, it isn't. Let's talk about design for a minute, and why it is such a big deal.

The Big Deal

Typography. Color. Shape. Size. Layout. Contrast. Repetition. Texture. These are all elements of design, and the basic tools of designers. The problem lies in the fact that you have access to them too, o thou who useth rainbow-colored Comic Sans with a drop-shadow. They are weapons of mass destruction! If the pen is mightier than the sword, then a Mac, loaded with design software and typefaces (yes, that's what you should actually say instead of 'fonts', at the risk of sounding like a huge nerd in front of your fellow Comicsansians...) is mightier than the tank.

Why? Because well designed information can make people think things and do things. How did you know where to get off the freeway? Some little person somewhere knew that if you were to drive 90 mph at night in the rain with poor eyesight, in order to see and assimilate the necessary information in time, the letters would need to be large, white, centered, and sans serif (no little wingy things on the tips of the letters. Also known as block letters. Or bubble letters, to the design-challenged...), on a darker, yet reflective, lit, and weather-resistant surface, at roughly fifteen feet above the road, several miles before your exit, and repeated every half-mile or so thereafter. Size, color, layout, typography, contrast, texture, repetition. Why didn't you walk into the wrong bathroom? Because even though they are not anatomically correct, attractive, colorful, moving, speaking, or flashing text, you recognize the little stick-figure man and woman on the bathroom door. It is a recognizable and consistent icon.

So aside from getting off at the right exit, and not getting thrown out of the wrong restroom, what is design good for? How about gaining the trust and confidence of a world-wide consumer base? Selling millions of books, shoes, or hamburgers? Making a hundred-million people think, "Oh my gosh—I must own an iPhone!" How about winning a campaign? Or taking over the world?

How soon do you think the world will forget the Swastika? It may well be the most despised icon in the world now, but it was once a powerful icon to which many thousands of devoted soldiers rallied. It was the symbol of an ideology and the standard of a movement that swept over the world and both changed and cost millions of lives. And it was just a bit of red, white, black, and a few basic shapes.

So are designers to blame for the Holocaust? No. But does it not show what a big deal design can be? There is probably not a single large, money-making organization that does not understand the big deal of design. That does not pay hundreds of thousands of dollars every month on marketing design projects. Which brings me to my next point.

The Difference Between Small Businesses And Big Companies

Entrepreneurs are a strange breed. One into which designers and artists like myself often fall. We have a neurotic tendency to do everything ourselves. Why pay someone else to fix my car or do my taxes if I can do it myself (with great effort, high stress, an inordinate amount of time, and bodily risk)?! Reduce expenditures at all costs!! Which is exactly what us small-business owners do. We cut corners. Then we start cutting things that are not corners. Until, in our efforts to save money, we have compromised our business image, customer relations, and sanity. It usually results in an unsustainable business/life model.

Then take a large business or corporation. While they would undoubtedly prefer to keep all their money, they choose to invest [large amounts of] it in design. They outsource to a design firm or marketing agency, and/or hire their own in-house design team and artistic director. They spend months researching, surveying, and polling before any new design is implemented (not even a 'simple' logo). Their website, though it may look simple on the front-end, involved thousands of hours of brainstorming, research, hiring freelancers, coding, designing, redesigning, and debugging. And often the more simple a website looks, the more difficult it was to make. A million dollars or more later, you don't even notice that the layout changes to look great when you pull it up on your cell phone, that it shows up at the top of Google, that you didn't have to think about how to find what you were looking for, that it reads correctly to a blind person with a talking browser, and that it even looks good in Internet Explorer. (Yes, that's right. Even though IE came installed on your computer, it doesn't mean you have to use it. Or should use it. Which you shouldn't. Don't. Please.) Why do these companies go to all the effort, you wonder? TO MAKE PEOPLE BUY THINGS!! They will make millions and millions more for having invested in good design, and they know it! Good design is always worth it. Bad design is never worth however little you may have paid (or not paid) for it.

The Moral of this Blog

OK. The point I've tried to get across today is that design is powerful. It is everywhere. And whether it is good or bad, design will always communicate. If your business has bad design, it will communicate that your business cuts corners. And possibly more than corners. If you have good design, people will believe that your attention to detail, and good taste, extends to your products and services.

Now go delete Comic Sans from your hard drive. And buy a Mac. And hire that gothic punk.

And buy Thomas Virgin Art products wherever they are sold.

~Tom

A Breath of Fresh Creativity

2008-11-21T19:39:00.006-05:00

This week I had three things refuel my creative juice tank. A trip to Disneyland, rereading To Kill a Mockingbird, and a container of Mexican jumping beans.

Disneyland reminded me of how much impact one artist can have on the world, and how much better life is when there is art, creativity, imagination, and time to enjoy it.

To Kill a Mockingbird reminded me of the power of good literature, and the incredibly refreshing way in which children see the world.

And jumping beans are just amazing. Everyone should have a few just to keep them entertained. And don't look it up on Wikipedia if you don't know how they do it. Something in the world should be magical enough to keep you thinking.

So thanks to a park, a book, and a bean, this week has left me with a renewed determination to be more creative, less cynical, and to appreciate those magical things I haven't figured out yet.

But don't take my word for it.

~Tom

My Philosophy on Art Appreciation

2008-11-03T16:45:00.006-05:00

I just realized that this blog would make a perfect philosophical and marketing soap-box! I can rant on and on with completely uninformed and random opinions, and no one can stop me! (Well, except for the Google moderators. Or the FBI.) But there's no one to stop you from reading my biased opinions, and by then it's too late! They've entered your brain and distorted your perception! I can plant subliminal messages about my amazing products, create cognitive links that will make you feel happy whenever you think my name, generate legal, naturally occurring addictive endorphins, and successfully corner the market, brainwashing millions and millions of ferociously loyal clients, creating a vast international consumer base, and take over the world!! All with a free blog.

But so far, I don't think anyone has visited this blog. Hmm.

Well, maybe my anti-trust, hostile world take-over will not work, but I think I will give you my brilliant opinion of art appreciation. Here it is...

Well, actually, after writing the rest of this post it was so gosh-awful I just deleted it. It would have put ME to sleep... So instead of talking about art appreciation in general, I decided to tell you why you should appreciate MY art! What's this blog good for, anyway!

Okay. Why is my art so darned great? I'll tell you why. Every piece has personal meaning, extreme detail, great quality, doesn't look like anything that Walmart carries, and your neighbors will die with envy!

And I will make you look skinnier than you actually are.

Because, as we all know, anorexia is next to godliness, and people will believe anything they see printed or framed.

Well, that's all the wisdom I can bestow upon you today, my loyal readers.

Until next time, buy Thomas Virgin Art products wherever they are sold!

~Tom

Tuesday, October 21st...

2008-10-21T14:45:00.008-04:00

This being my first attempt at maintaining a blog myself, I am setting off into the unknown- boldly blogging where no... um... where I have no idea what the heck I'm doing.

However, if you elect to come to my blog, I promise that posts will be less sporadic than my train of thought (though I can't vouch for their content...), that I will never point my trombone at you, that I will never poke a kneaded eraser effigy of you, that you will lose 10 pounds, and that I will not raise taxes.*

I hope this will be entertaining enough to keep you all coming back again and again. And again. With wide smiles. And loose pockets. So more people will go to my website. And buy stuff.

~Tom

*except when I completely refute myself in very very small print...