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Photoshop Brushies

One of the things I had been wishing for for the LONGEST time was a way to preview Photoshop brushes outside of the Adobe Photoshop application. I had uninstalled most of mine because the GUI would run off screen due to the number I use when I tried to use them in Photoshop. Plus, I wanted to be able to better organize and categorize them when searching for one to install/load while using Photoshop without having to use the laborious “search and discover” method.

Every 6 or 8 months, I’ll get a proverbial wild hair up my derrière and spend a few weeks searching religiously, but give up after bookmarking a few dozen links to peruse, only to find nothing. Well, on a hunch, I decided to go back through my archived bookmarks from a search I did over a year ago and ran across something on Justin Palmer’s site — he had posted that he was working on a .NET app called Brushpod, which would allow you to preview brushes. He had unfortunately decided to discontinue the project. However, someone posted a few months ago that there was a similar app available on SourceForge called ABRViewer.

I downloaded it today and must say that I am so far very impressed!

I made a few screenshots in the hopes that it might be useful to some of you. As an example, I am using some brushes I downloaded from DarkWaif’s site.

– This is the main GUI after I’ve loaded all brushes in a folder. You can load them one by one if you want. To unload one, you just right-click in the Previewed Sets window. I like how the author has each brush preview loading in alternative backgrounds so I can tell where one brush ends and the next begins.

– When you doubleclick on a preview thumbnail, you are shown the brush at its default size. (I dunno about you, but this is crucial if you’re thinking about using what looked like 800px wide and it turns out to default to be only 150px — I’ve seen several photoshop brushes that don’t handle being “enlarged” very well!)

– Click on that window and you are given a text window for seeing how the brush looks as it “drawn” in Photoshop. Very handy for deciding for use in textures and other special brushing effects. (Can you say “motion blurs”? Yeah, me too.)

You are also given the options of exporting thumbnails for a folder of brushes, or the preview panel for the brushes you currently have open.

I’m hoping the author adds subfolder processing to the next release, as well as an option to set a default location or folder to open — those would be the only things that I’d change about this app.

Otherwise I’d say it’s perfect. Very handy I’d say! :mrgreen:

More Bama art

I put together a collage of various images from this season’s games onto a crimson background with the elephant logo on top:

Click on the thumb to see the full version.

Edit: I’ve also faded the color out a bit in this version of the same image:

New WordPress Theme: Jim’s Monkey

I’d had the idea for this theme for a while, I just didn’t find the time and/or ambition to sit down and design it until last night.

(Hey, I had to do *something* to get ‘Bama’s heartbreaking loss to LSU outta my mind!)

It’s called Jim’s Monkey, and is based on a line of t-shirts that he wears featuring a naughty lounge monkey. The titles range from “My monkey made me do it”, “Beware of monkey”, “Want to pet my…” (you get the idea), all of which feature a cute but devious looking monkey — usually sporting a martini or drink of some sort, but I left out due to size restrictions.

This is a pretty simple theme, only 7 files in total: the top banner and main background images, index.php, page.php, style.css, comments.php and comments-popup.php.

The code validates, and I have tested it on a couple test installs of WordPress that I have running on this site. Sorry, I don’t have a demo up; but I do have a screenshot:

(Click the thumbnail for a fullscreen shot)

This is a free theme, and you can download it here.

Enjoy!

Disturbing Dream and Job

“What don’t you like about the job you have now?”

I read that question on one of the tests I took for my interview today. Funny, there was only one itty bitty line allotted with which I should answer that … so little room, and where would I even begin? I hate the commute, I am beginning to hate the people I work with because a couple of them are trying to deliberately make my job harder and one of them has recently stabbed me in the back, the pay is laughable at best, and the benefits are … well, let’s face it: there really aren’t any.

Yep, another interview … but this one was a little different. I mean, I still had to fill out the 6-page application and voluntary information (affirmative action form, yay *blegh!*) form, but I also had to take an IQ test. It was one of those quickie-eval versions though. I’ve had several similar to it, and have always done well so I think I did well today too. It’s timed, you have 12 minutes to answer 40-something questions. The instructions tell you that you won’t finish, but I came close. I had 4 left when time was up.

The interview went pretty well, I think I got along with the IT manager alright. He seemed pretty easy going, and I could tell right away that he’s someone that I wouldn’t have any problems working for. He made it clear that the position is a “self-starter” type, which means that he’s no micromanager — I like this guy already!

So I’d say we got along pretty well … hell, I was in the interview for nearly 3 hours! It’s on Valleydale Road, which is a real bitch to deal with during rush hour. If I’m hired, I’m going to hate that part; but oh well, it would be a lot better than where I am right now!!

Hopefully I could know something as early as tomorrow … which would totally rock!!!

*evil grin* Y’all just don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to march into the owner’s office and slap a two-week notice on his desk.

A friend of mine here in the office thinks they will offer me money if I decide to leave (only Jim knows that I’m looking to leave), so it will be interesting to see if they actually do try to keep me. If I get the chance, I’ll tell them they’ll need to think about giving that money to Jim if they want to keep him.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyways … I’m hoping that’s my good news for this weekend, or next week. It would so make my year to have that job.

I’ve been adding a few things to the art gallery lately … mostly stuff that’s been on my DeviantArt account that just hadn’t migrated over yet. I will hopefully have more to add to it soon. I haven’t had a whole lot of time to work on my art lately … a new job would certainly help that.

If I get time and/or the energy to do so tonight, I’ll start a sketch on the dream I had last night. A real vivid one too, and very disturbing. I dreamed that Jim, Jessie, and I were caught in a 9-11 style attack … except that it was in B’ham. I don’t remember who it was that was after us, or who was doing the attacking, but I still remember even now how big and what color the bombs were.

I remember feeling glass shards hit me when the building we were in was bombed. In my dream, the building’s whole side was all glass and we stood there watching the bombs come in. The building had a strange shape, almost like a stretched ‘v’ with the inside of the fold being glass on the left, and brick on the right. I remember seeing chunks of brick go flying everywhere.

In my dream I was screaming but no one could hear me. I was trying to get Jim and Jessie to safety, away from the windows and incoming projectiles. I watched both of them burn right in front of me.

I woke up in a pool of sweat with the most horrible feeling. I’ve had “real” dreams before, and many as vivid as this one was, but never had any felt like that. I awoke feeling as if it was something I had really lived through, as if I was re-living it in my dream.

Very creepy.

I don’t normally have “doomsday dreams” … and even if I did, they were never anything like that.

*shrug* Oh well, maybe tonight will be better. I have had a headache all day, and it is only getting worse. I think I’ll try to talk Jim into leaving work early so I can get a nap in before dinner.

What is this thing you speak of called ‘Sleep’?

I originally had this long-assed rant to post today, but my power supply belched, my machine rebooted, and I can’t be arsed to type it up again …

But I did want to share this quick tidbit: I had meant to post it this past weekend, it’s already on my DeviantArt account.

It’s the cover of my next album … if and when I ever finish it. Oh well, that’s a step closer right?

Anyways, I’ve had 4 hours of sleep in the last 3 days. I’m exhausted.

Excuse me, mind if I pass out here?

Coppermine Gallery updated

I finally gave my gallery a much-needed update and even added a pretty background. :mrgreen:

Take a gander: http://www.nitallica.org/copper/

I forgot something —

Jim’s mother is an avid painter (and is quite good!), and is thinking of putting up a booth at the local craft fair this fall. She asked if I would like to go in with her on it, and I am seriously considering it.

I don’t have enough acrylics painted, and what little oils I’ve done I am not ready to sell. What I’m thinking of doing is getting some prints done of a few of my digital works. If anything sells, that’s cool … if not, then I have next year’s Christmas already taken care of. *grins*

I’ll be sure to post the time and place if it goes through.

Innocent.

I remember what innocent felt like
The wind blowing in my hair
The sun shining on my face
Everything was magical and nothing was impossible.

School was still a place of fun and safety
“Free play” time was a daily given
Saturday morning cartoons lasted all day
And a hug from Mom made everything “all better.”

Barbie was just a toy
“Gay” meant you were merry
A nightlight kept scary things at bay
And little brothers were your most annoying best friends.

Your imagination’s only limit was bedtime
Two pipecleaners, construction paper, and some glue was a major craft project
A cardboard box was a space rocket, a house, and a car
Play-doh was Mom’s worst nightmare.

Crayons and stickers made everything prettier
Sequins and rhinestones were priceless treasure
Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny were real
And Superman really could fly.

Yes, I remember what innocent felt like.

The Birth of Art

“And my aim in my life is to make pictures and drawings, as many and as well as I can; then, at the end of my life, I hope to pass away, looking back with love and tender regret, and thinking, ‘Oh, the pictures I might have made!’” — Vincent van Gogh

Today is Vincent van Gogh’s birthday, and as he is one of my favorite artists, I wanted to drop a coupla gems here that I have run across in my travels over the ‘net in case anyone’s interested:

* The Vincent van Gogh Gallery, endorsed and maintained by the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam NL — this has one of the largest and most complete van Gogh painting lists, including the painting’s origin and where it is now.

* Van Gogh’s Letters — a massive (and searchable) unabridged collection of letters written by the artist, broken down by topic.

Coppermine, Part Deux …

Ok, I’ve tweaked and hacked it some more, and for now I’m happy with the way it looks. *big grin* But I reserve the right to muck it up even worse later.

I’ve also decided to incorporate the CoppermineFetch script into WordPress, so now a random piece of my artwork displays on the lower right hand side of my blog.

YAY ME!

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