[Liquid!]

I haven't been posting here for some time... why you ask? Well, I have been busy putting together a new site for some books we publish.

I was hoping to get some critiques/feedback on this thing. I'm pretty happy with the general layout, and would like to keep it, but would love to get some feedback.








One of my main concerns is that I would like to include a "search"/"Mailing list" items on the main interface, thus someone could add themselves to the mailing list at all times, as well, as being able to search the site from anywhere. Lastly, I'm looking for a clever way to do "cast" closeups on the left, but am sort of stuck on ideas. Again, anyt help/comments would be greatly appreciated.



Don't laugh... Yes, that's a rough of what I'm thinking of right now. I would just like to come up with a pretty way to do it...

-c



[This message has been edited by Liquid! (edited November 25, 2000).]

[Matt Elder]

The colour scheme looks nice and the layout has it's original enough without going away from easy functionality. My concern is that you seem to have your 'summary content' on the right hand side of the screen and the 'detailled content' on the left. While it is an original idea, I don't know how functional it is. People generally read from left to right and I think the layout of the site could be really 'difficult' to get use to. Maybe if the left hand side was in more of an obvious box or something this might help to draw your eye to the right hand side of the screen first (maybe I'm missing the point though)

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See ya on da flip side
Matt
http://www.mattelder.com

[Blitz]

Im not much of a web designer. I do agree with Matt Elder in that it is better to have the content on the right.

I don't know man. I would like to say more. Maby if you did another Vader pic I could comment on the helmet. hehe that was cool

Ya so like I said Im not much of a web designer but I do know that as far as color scheme goes it does look nice.

Im work'n on a portfolio site in one of my college classes. But I am taking a whole different approch. Ill show ya when Im done.

anyhoo
seeyas LQ!

Blitz

[Matt Elder]

hehehe

I thought the second screen shot was vader without the mask (or is this a matter of don't go there - I've seen the other post with the vader mask shinny thingo)

------------------
See ya on da flip side
Matt
http://www.mattelder.com

[samdragon]

Nice!
Before I can help ya out. i need to know if this is going to be done in flash for HTML.
I'm currious as to what loading times you've got going with this.
If you interested I could lend a hand, I'm about to finish up with my current client and I'll have some freetime. Do you have a beta site up somewhere?
It looks like you could use a nice pulldown menu with images in it and then have those images with details appear in the right part of the screen once they are selected. Once the image is selected the pull down menu would roll back up or go away.
ok..I need sleep..I think I'm not making much sense here...
Serriously tho, if you want ta share some ideas email me. i do this stuff for a living...(for now)

[SporQ]

i've done a few sites in my time, and ive found that load time should be your biggest worry, before graphics or anything. you lose the most people from waiting. that background might be a loading time problem, but if the file size on it is small enough, i wouldnt worry.

great layout and great colors, i personally like the details on the left how you have them, very original, and i wouldnt worry about people getting confused.

SporQ

[Spitfire]

I like it! clean and effective. The only thing i found a bit less was the logotype, you might want to pick a serifless font to match the look of the logo icon.

[Rinaldo]

The design is pretty standard in a way, but that's fine. I'm not really sure that the navigation needs to be on the left. people read from left to right, but I think the general eyeflow goes in a semi circle starting from the top left and ending at the bottom left. I don't seem to have a problem with it but others might.

Blah, I'm not that good at design, I have a few silly fanboy Qs that you'll probably skim right by though
I am wondering where that zip a'tone (or whatever it's called) texture/effect you've got going in the background comes from. Where and how do you get that through non traditional means. now if I'm sounding confusing and it's 'cos im confused. I've seen a lot of comics (the witching hour, and a bit of steampunk for example) that are inked with something that looks like zip, only I'm not sure if it is due to the complexty of the application etc. I'm interested in getting that look, but I'm not sure where to start 'sides doing it old school with traditional zip.
bah anyway if that didn't make me sound stupid my next Q will.

have you been alerted to the fact that the second double page spread of soul saga 3 (the one with the horse jumping) is pretty much a rip of a Frazetta painting. I'm talking about the cover he did to Eternal Champion (book by Michael Moorcock).
I mean It's not a trace or anthing (although it's very close) but subject, pose, and composition is pretty much there, (I noticed it in an instant).
Now I'm not crying hack, or any other bad names, I don't know what the intent of it was. I was just wondering what your opinion of this sort of thign is after hearing what you have to say on people wanting to colour like you, and copying your style.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, the painting is on page 155 of Legacy, or I can scan it for you.

anyway I'll shut up now. don't mean to bug you with this but it's been bouncing around inside my head for a while.

[Liquid!]

MATT: Point taken. The nav bar on the right would only be there in 3-tier navigations. So I think the top bar [1-tier] and secondary right under that [2-tier] would be used mostly. I wanted to break convention a bit, and think for the navigation purposes I have in mind it might actually prove useful... Either way, thank you for the comments. If enough people seem to be confused by it, I'll flip it!

BLITZ/MATT: I'll do ANOTHER VADER for sure now. And this time it shall NOT suck... I'll just have to cut out sleeping and eating...

SAM: Thanks! The site is pure HTML no flash, since I want to make sure its very accesible. Pull downs sound great, but I really want to get the basic design down pat, before adding 'frills'. Hey maybe we can post the Draken on the site?! Hey I thought you did 3d for a living?


SPORQ: Download is 61.5KB. About 1 second on cable/t1, 10 seconds on 56K, and 21 seconds on 28K. Seems reasonable to me, then again I'm on cable...

SPIT: Which font/logo?

Thanks for the comments and feedback, please let me know about any ideas for the mailing list button, and an potential ideas for the "CAST" close up designs.

Thanks.
-c

[Liquid!]

quote:

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Originally posted by Rinaldo:
The design is pretty standard in a way, but that's fine. [stuff deleted]

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Not necessarily a bad thing. As mentioned before I want it to be fairly accessible.

quote:

---

Blah, I'm not that good at design, I have a few silly fanboy Qs that you'll probably skim right by though

---

I've seen your drawings and I doubt that you're not that good at design. So I would love to hear your feedback.

quote:

---

I am wondering where that zip a'tone (or whatever it's called) texture/effect you've got going in the background comes from. Where and how do you get that through non traditional means. now if I'm sounding confusing and it's 'cos im confused. I've seen a lot of comics (the witching hour, and a bit of steampunk for example) that are inked with something that looks like zip, only I'm not sure if it is due to the complexty of the application etc. I'm interested in getting that look, but I'm not sure where to start 'sides doing it old school with traditional zip.

---

Ok. This one is easy. You switch your grayscale/color image to bitmap and then chose the halftone screen option. Play with the settings to get the desired result. Actually I believe that's what Bachalo is doing too. I think he shades the stuff with a ink wash, scans it in greyscale, and then 'half-tones' it with Pshop. And then of-course you could always get the japanese zip-a-tone that many guys use, that allows you to do some really incredible stuff. Experiment. Find what works best for you.

quote:

---

bah anyway if that didn't make me sound stupid my next Q will.

have you been alerted to the fact that the second double page spread of soul saga 3 (the one with the horse jumping) is pretty much a rip of a Frazetta painting. I'm talking about the cover he did to Eternal Champion (book by Michael Moorcock).
I mean It's not a trace or anthing (although it's very close) but subject, pose, and composition is pretty much there, (I noticed it in an instant).

---

Yes, I've been "alerted". Actually, there isn't a guy in comics I know that doesn't consider Frazetta a god. Stephen Platt and David Finch being the two guys I personally know that are absolute die hard fans.

Frazetta's works are extremely well-known, and I'm sure that recognizing the source was intended. However, I can't speak for Stephen nor would I ever do so.

quote:

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Now I'm not crying hack, or any other bad names, I don't know what the intent of it was. I was just wondering what your opinion of this sort of thign is after hearing what you have to say on people wanting to colour like you, and copying your style.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, the painting is on page 155 of Legacy, or I can scan it for you.

---

Do you disagree with what I have said about people coloring like us in previous posts?

I think you answered your own question. Do you feel that Stephen has a style of his own, or that he is easily mistaken for Frazetta? I think Stephen's visuals are very distinct. He has developed his own unique vision, which is what I preach above all else.

Again, this is my personal opinion. You would have to ask Stephen to get his views on the subject matter.

quote:

---

anyway I'll shut up now. don't mean to bug you with this but it's been bouncing around inside my head for a while.

---

I hope I've been able to be helpful to you.

-c

[Blitz]

Sleep??? Whats that...Must do homework and Draw
Eat..Well unforunatly I know what that is all to well...

Another Vader Hu...Hmmm That Sounds good..

While you are here I will ask you a small yes or no question...I know I know this is a thread about your site...But... I know you color alot of comics...Have you ever concidered drawing and coloring your own? From what Iv seen you have the drawing skills. Havn't seen allot of your Drawings though.

Maby you have and I don't know about it. Anyhoo I am now rambling. I bet you hate that.

Well seeys again LQ!

Blitz......Teacher of the Pros....and always a constant dreamer

[Rinaldo]

Ok From a personal point of view I think that the site's "look" is quite nice, but it is very standard. By this I am referring to the squareness of it. Very conservative. Like you said it's probably good to not stray too far from the standard to ensure that it's easy to understand.
It's very subjective I suppose. I've been studying design for the last two years actually (I'm just more interested in drawing). and I usually attack things in terms of target demographic etc. with this site you probably know much better than I who you are pitching to.
The main thing is that when I look at it I see nothing wrong but nothing really interesting. Which I suppose is a good thing the last thing you want is one of those "designer sites" that are incomprehensible. I think flash would be the wrong way to go as well as you have already said.
Something that I noticed is that you have a lot of hard edged rectangular shapes. I think that this lacks contrast in a sense. If there were some other shapes (round, elliptical, whatever) it would add some more interest. Square is conservative in a sense.


I had a play with it. Added a curved line (not terribly original).



Adding a curve gives some contrast to the hard shapes you have.

I don't think it will work that well with the character page tho, ('cos you want a scroll bar I assume) but this is how it could work



You could put the curved line with the thumbnails in a scroll bar tho. as in:



Bad diagram but I hope you get the idea
My knowledge of web design is bad, so I'm not sure if you can have a transparent BG in a scroll box thing.

Blah, but anyway. Just some ideas. I haven't really adressed any of the stuff you wanted help on, just stuffed up the whole layout *sorry*

[Rinaldo]

had to split this up due to that stupid 8 post limmit message.

Thanks so much for that technique with the Halftone screen. I don't think that the traditional zip-a-tone would be able to give the sort of cool results that Bachalo got in the witching hour. Hehe, I've been trying to nut that out for ages . I'll have a play with it and see what I can come up with.

About the Frazetta thing. I can understand. I love Frazetta.
The thing is that I didn't notice it at first. When I saw that splash I was like, wow Platt is really starting to get a hang of things. I just sort of felt a bit let down when I was flipping through legacy and saw it. I can see that Platt can draw. It had the "Platt look" to it as well, not just like a copied Frazetta. I just think that a lot of what I originally thought of as cool in that splash was more to do with Frazetta than Platt. Frazetta has a wonderful sense of the dynamic, and I'm not sure if it would have been as good had Stephen gone at it alone.

My position on what you have said earlier is a bit of both. I agree with what you are saying but I don't think it's quite as black and white as all that.
Even Joe Mad started off as an Art Adams hack (or so I have been told). People were discussing this over at the Joe mad forums a while back. A lot of it slamming that guy who draws battle gods (can't even be bothered to go look up his name ).
I think that there is a difference between being inspired and being a copy. When someone starts out they usually do so because a particular artist inspires them. I know what got me started (really started) was Battle Chasers. I wanted to BE Joe Mad. I did a lot of drawings that could only be called rip offs. I never really learnt all that much from doing that I don�t think but it was something that I had to do. In the end I realised that it was easier not to check if my noses were exactly like the ones Joe did. I forgot trying to learn how to draw those weird hands he does.
The thing is that originality is a hard thing to come by. If one was to look at all the sources or pictures a particular artist has ever looked at and then compare it to their current work you�ll be surprised at how little is actually original. People start off being inspired by others. They pull bits from all around them and then finally manage to fuse them into something that they can call their own.
The problems (in my opinion) occur when someone copies without understanding why. It�s important not to learn from places like comicbooks because they are a caricature of the bigger picture. Looking at some of your colours and trying to replicate them is pointless. There is no way that anyone will get anywhere near as good as you by doing that. The only result that can come out of that is a substandard copy-artist who is unable to go beyond the confines which their �inspiration� has set up. This does not mean that looking at Liquid colours to learn how to colour is wrong. One can pick up a lot of things that can be of help. Just as you would need to learn the ins and outs of oil painting technique before you started. Even if you do know everything about form, vale and colour etc. it will be pointless to start from scratch with nothing but some paint and a canvas. There are ways of going about things; Methodologies that can save time, so on so forth. It doesn�t mean that one has to adopt those techniques forever but they serve as a starting point.
Ok I�m rambling here. I suppose what I�m trying to say, is that the only wrong thing is copying something and not knowing why the artist originally did it that way. People like �that guy who draws battle gods� are just plain stupid. That�s not what I�m suggesting. But I doubt that you�ll find all that many artists who just started with a totally original style based around their observations of the world around them. There is always some inspiration, big or small.

Ok maybe that is a bit long winded Yes I agree with what you have said on the colouring. I just think that there is a little bit more to it. what you are saying is sensible (and good advice) but it is also disrespecting one of the things that drives a lot of artists.

hope what I've said makes some sense



[This message has been edited by Rinaldo (edited November 25, 2000).]

[CyberLink]

The site looks good, clean and has the nice layout Good job

[samdragon]

I wish I was doing 3D for a living. I'm working on that part..jeezz i have toooo much going on right now... anyway..
I feel that Rinaldo has some great concepts there. The breaking up of the hard shapes with the curve is a nice idea. Because of the curve being to the right. I helps push the viewers eyes to the right of the screen.
Only problem is, if this is in a frame that means half your screen will be for your navigation. There is a way to have url's load into a table, but it's kinda tricky, and it only works on 5.0 versions of browsers.
As it was mentioned before, loading time is a big factor. If you're going to use this site as a showcase of your talent. Keep that in mind when designing this site. You don't want the site to be distracting from your work or too hard to navigate. Above all, the images should be prominently displayed and easy to get to. People hate to wait for stuff to load, no matter how good your work is, they will leave if they have to wait for everypage to load a new interface.

You could also think about the repetition of shapes, using that nice gear you have in your logo. You could use it as part of the menu on the right.

And as always, websites are a never ending spiral of updates. So You may want to keep that in mind as you design this site. You'll be doing regular updates to it, so don't make it too hard to update in the future, if you do, you'll kick yourself in the ass. It sucks when you have a 5 minute update that takes 40 minutes. OH..and once you decide on a design, make some blank pages with no content, this will help ease the updates when update time comes, or when you want to add more content.
I think you'll be fine with what you have now. Just remember, load fast, easy navigation, no guessing what does what. And you're set! Just promise to let us all know when it done so we can see all the great stuff!

[samdragon]

I'm sorry to sound silly, but have you put any thought into about registering your domain name? www.stormworks.com. I tried that domain and someone else already has it. It's some internet company.
stormworks.net is also taken, but it's used as a re-direct url only ???hmmm
I guess you could get hosted by someone. ok ok..I'll leave ya alone now..
I'm sorry if you mentioned this earlier, I'm still going on few hours of sleep.

oh yeah, one more thing..
for the cast close ups, I just got an idea..
You could use the characters name and then have a mouseover that changes the text into a small image of that character, then, once that button is clicked, it loads onto the left of the screen. ah..after i get some sleep I'll set up an example for ya. It's better to see it in action i guess

[Jerry]

I like how the colours match the background and everything...

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-KARN- Forever. Die? Never

[Nilesh_P]

HOW ABOUT this?
changed it around a little moved logos around so if somone is viewing your site in small res.. they will see Stormworks logo
not just Sto and its cut off
mouse over helps...




------------------
Nilesh P.
www.digitizedesign.com
Looking for a job!

[Chapel]

The site design looks pretty neat. I would have flipped it around though. Just cause I would think that with all the different resolutions that menu bar is either going to get cropped out or it is going to cut into the page. Kinda disrupts the flow. I personally would want my menu items displayed at all times. If they want to see the close up then I'm sure they will click and scroll to the side (if need be) to see all of it.

[A. Mount]

hey Chris! Nilesh's idea isn't half bad. The contrast between the negative and positive space dots creates an excellent focus for a user's eye on the left side and therefore a more effective window in which to place information. Rinaldo's (hey buddy. I'll catch you on later. GREAT ideas this weekend.) idea to add a curve juxtaposes nicely with such a standard navbar.

I've actually been meaning to talk to you about an SW site for a bit now and if you'd hop on ICQ I'd be happy to give you a few ideas and a more thorough crit. (yarrrrrr... I'll have to dash down to the studios later to dash up some mock-ups)

I'm sure those will be rollovers, by the way, but the way you're looking now with all of the halftones and fades in the same color-scheme it might be effective to do flash rollovers that have a timed revert. Then again, if I had my way, it would all be flash, but hah.

Dinner time. Maybe more in a bit.

a.

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Read SAVANT! | seraph seven is coming | Moderator, Top Cow Message Boards

[Liquid!]

Guys, thanks for all the great comments. All the feedback is super useful, since it lets me look at it through someone else's eyes. Always a pleasure, and much appreciated.

Let me try to reply to some of the points that have been made.

BLITZ: I haven't really thought about it. I would love to do some fully painted pinups/covers someday, however time being as limited as it is that isn't likely to happen. Not to mention that little thing called 'talent', that I'm lacking. However, I think you raise an interesting point. I think most people don't realize how hard it is to truly do comics well. The main contributor being "time". While I could do an awesome page given 5 days to do it, that just isn't feasible from a publishing point of view, much less from a financial point of view. Either way, thanks for the vote of confidence though!

RINALDO: You've made some great points and given me some stuff to try to mull over. You're right the site does look a bit 'boring'/'standard'. That is partially choice, and partially my own shortcomings when it comes to graphic design. The target audience for the site are obviously fans. However, its also for agents, production studios, and licensing people to get an introduction to ourselves. Moreover, it will be an easy way for people to purchase some special merchandise that they might not get anywhere else. For the latter two reasons, I chose to do the design a bit more 'corporate'. Personally, I don't like to buy from sites that look untrustworthy/unprofessional, and thus I think the 'standard' may work better for a e-commerce site. However, having said all that I do think that it needs some 'curves'. I don't think I can implement the curve as a divider, because of site logistics. One of the reasons being that the line coming down is a 2-pixel gif streched, and thus movable to the left/right at will. Nevertheless, I think you're absolutely right. It does need a bit of 'fun/interest' and 'curves' . I think what I will try to do is incorporte those aspects into some sort of framing/header graphic that will accompany the pics. Maybe using the lighting rod/gears? Don't know yet, but either way I think you're comments are very useful. Thanks for making them.

As far as the Frazetta thing goes, I'm glad that my views seem to make a bit more sense. I can also very much see why most of that image you liked was actually Frazetta shining through. Which once more is a credit to how strong Frazetta's work is and why I think Stephen and David are such huge fans of his.

I think using other artists work as a point of inspiration and learning is what each and every one of us should do. I also don't think you should limit yourself to purely one artform. I personally study everything from movies, animated shows, paintings, photos, etc, to try to widen my understanding of what I do. While I completely understand what you're saying, and even agree with it, you should be aware that not everyone approaches it from your perspective. You seem to want to understand certain things about process to be able to fulfill your own vision. There's nothing wrong with that. However, for one of you there are a hundred of those that will not try to find their own artistic voice, rather just try to copy EXACTLY what has been put in front of them with no attempt at any level of comprehension. As an example, I used to email people a step-by-step guide of how we did things when we first started. I won't name anyone, but those are the very same people today that copy us the most furiously, without so much as a original thought behind it. I realized that rather than taking the info given to them and trying to extrapolate their own conclusions from it, it was easier for them to just try to mimic what we did. My conclusion? While its more work for you to have to explore certain paths yourself, the end result of your experimentation will be rewarded with the creation of your very own "style" and interpretation of the world that surrounds you. And trust me, "style" is the most valued commodity I can think of. It's what makes your work different from a million others out there.

In other words, I want to help people to find their own interpretations, not force mine upon them. Moreover, I hope THEY want to find their own, rather than just aping someone elses. Sorry about such a long-winded response, but I've felt for a while, that you're not quite seeing where I'm coming from. While I don't expect you to necessarily agree with me, I hope it makes my viewpoint clearer. But I also hope this is the last of any similar discussions on the subject, since I can think of 1 million better things to be doing with the little time I have each day.

Phew. Thanks again.

SAM: I couldn't agree more with what you're saying. One of the reasons we've been staying away from Flash/Frames is that this site needs to generate revenue from sales, and thus needs to be accesible to the greatest amount of users possible... Keeping that in mind I'm trying to strike a happy medium between interest and optimization. Most of the updates will be database .asp driven. So once the framework is in place I hope to streamline it quite a bit.

PS: love the gear idea... gotta find a way to do it tho. That might be the curves/interest thing that might spice up the design frames for the pics of the cast of title bars for subheaders...

Thanks for checking the registrations. We're aware of it. If you need it email me, I'll explain.

NILESH: I really love the color shift on the left - GREAT IDEA! I won't be able to incorporate it that way because of how the bar is currently moveable , and also is not even present in some scenearios [store, about, contact]. The logo had been on the left before, but as you can see the lighting rod is cut off, and if you move it higher it looks dissjointed. I also thought that it would be a bit left-heavy if everything was shifted that way. However, I might have an idea regarding the mailing list button, based on what you've done with the 'account' stuff... AGain, the color shift on the BG is awesome... gotta think of putting that in there somehow... [also gotta keep in mind the download time on the bg-gif size]. Thanks for doing such a kickass mockup!

AMOUNT: Ditto. I'm NEVER on ICQ. I don't even have it installed anymore. If you need to get in touch with me email me via [email protected] and they should forward it to me.
As mentioned before I would LOVE to do flash, I just need to keep it a bit more simple, until the world at large catches up. Don't want to lose any potetial customers, because of plug-in issues.

Phew. Hope that answers some of these. Again, thanks so much to everyone taking the time to give me some feedback on this thing. I really appreciate it, and it gives me some ideas as to what seems to work and what doesn't!



[This message has been edited by Liquid! (edited November 26, 2000).]

[Blitz]

You color Ill draw eh?

That would be a trip. Ya I understand the time thing. It takes Alex Ross a while to come out with a full comic because he has to draw and color it.

The Pinup thing is defiantly something to look into.

Till next time

Blitz....Singer of songs, inspiration to lizards across the land


[This message has been edited by Blitz (edited November 26, 2000).]

[Rinaldo]

I understand your position. I think it's unfortunatly the only thing you can really say in light of the number of people who are going to take your techniques wholesale and never look back. The advice you have given is solid, and I wouldn't for a minute dispute it.
But I won't continue with the conversation. I've very sorry to have taken up your time with it in the first place.
thanks for clearing things up. I can appreciate your stance a lot better now.

Cheers

[TheMilkMan]

Hey Liqued:

OK, I have to ask why in the heck you are making your own website. You and aaron color like 5 books a month or something and I know you are not making chump change doing that . I also know you do advertisments with other artists..and that pays good. I just don't understand why you stress yourself out making websites. I know you have programing skills and you have the art skills but I think that Liqued Graphics might need another employee who does the web stuff for you guys. I was waiting forever to see Soul Saga and EVE site get some updates but it never happned and I know it is because you have way to much work that pays to do that stuff. You don't have to get some top indystry profesional to help you out just get some promising college gradute or talented digital artist and have him make the site for you..you can even pay him intern salery or something. Are you sure this project isn't going to be like the other ones and end up in the ( I'll get back to it catagory? ).

Ohh and on a completly diffrent note I got the chance to talk with Brian Haberlin this year at a con. I got talking with him about coloring and style and stuff like that and he told me that he did'nt really like the way you color...I was like what the hell. That guy seriously has a stick up his ass. I mean spawn has really made this guy think his shit don't stink. I know he is a good colorist but I mean it isn't like he is ever going to be Norman Rockwell. I mean Joe Chiodo is more famous then him!! Anyways do you know that guy and what is his major malfunction?

[Liquid!]

quote:

---

Originally posted by TheMilkMan:
Hey Liqued:

OK, I have to ask why in the heck you are making your own website. You and aaron color like 5 books a month or something and I know you are not making chump change doing that .
I also know you do advertisments with other artists..and that pays good. I just don't understand why you stress yourself out making websites. I know you have programing skills and you have the art skills but I think that Liqued Graphics might need another employee who does the web stuff for you guys. I was waiting forever to see Soul Saga and EVE site get some updates but it never happned and I know it is because you have way to much work that pays to do that stuff. You don't have to get some top indystry profesional to help you out just get some promising college gradute or talented digital artist and have him make the site for you..you can even pay him intern salery or something. Are you sure this project isn't going to be like the other ones and end up in the ( I'll get back to it catagory? ).
[quote]

Your concern isn't unfounded. The answer is actually multi-fold. First off, it is difficult to find people with a certain level of talent. As surprising as that may sound its true. Not to mention that we generally have guidelines that must be followed that make the job that much more difficult. For the stormworks site the following guidelines were set before we went about doing it [1. Must be all HTML, no flash/frames 2. Main navigation must be on top including the titles of the books in the logos of the books, with room for more logos as/if we decide to publish more books. 3. must be trust inspiring in terms of future e-commerce viability 4. Include the stormworks logo. Phew..] These were the most important ones to us. We did about 12 mockups and decided on the one posted here. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it was difficult to get what we wanted.

Secondly, but more importantly than the first was finding individuals that have actual follow through. This is even more rare than talent, if not an impossible trait to find. I had given a rough draft of the site to a fan that was interested in doing the site, and he completely flaked on me. Thus, I ended up having to do it myself. The post by the UT guy about how to get a job in video games rang home very true. Everyone is a great "starter" but most are horrible "finishers". Guess what? That is true in comics too. So finding guys that are interested in doing this sort of thing with some level of commitment is quite difficult, especially if everything we do has to be weighed in terms of profit-production. In other words, salarying someone for a site that isn't producing any income isn't feasible as of yet. Bottomline, it would be a job for someone, that is interested in getting their foot in the door.

Anyhow, my end of the site should be completely done tonight, and the e-commerce plug-in with in the next week. As far as updates go we will hopefully find some volunteers that are interested in working with us to keep it current.

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Ohh and on a completly diffrent note I got the chance to talk with Brian Haberlin this year at a con. I got talking with him about coloring and style and stuff like that and he told me that he did'nt really like the way you color...I was like what the hell. That guy seriously has a stick up his ass. I mean spawn has really made this guy think his shit don't stink. I know he is a good colorist but I mean it isn't like he is ever going to be Norman Rockwell. I mean Joe Chiodo is more famous then him!! Anyways do you know that guy and what is his major malfunction?

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I know Brian. Comics is a fairly small industry so most guys know each other. I can't tell you what happend there, maybe you got him on a bad day?

-c

[This message has been edited by Liquid! (edited November 26, 2000).]