Gorblimey updated!

[Socar MYLES]

Right, so people had been laughing at my Wild West-looking site design for long enough. It was high time to give it an overhaul:

http://www.gorblimey.com/

I put up a few wee spot illustrations, card arts, and other small things I'd never bothered with before, in their own section, and reorganized everything else so it's easier to find. I also got rid of old art, so there are no more than 16 pictures per section. Every time I add something new from now on, I'll be taking away my least favourite of the pictures that are already there, so the standard keeps going up.

I think any bugs and stuff have been ironed out, but I'm no HTML wizard, so there could still be messups in the code. Let me know if you see any.

[blobsticks]

Site seems fine to me Socar, didn't notice anything.

And the work is beautiful as usual :)

Scott.

[AndyHep]

I'm very impressed - lovely work. I'd like to be able (OK, to find the time) to do some landscapes. Lush.

[Tom Luth]

As always, great work. I also enjoyed the landscapes. The amount of detail you manage to get into these, without falling into clutter, is great. In some ways, I am reminded of the matte painter Albert Whitlock, and some of his comments: he had noticed that when he tried to paint detail, every leaf on a tree, he got a mess, but eventually learned to paint shapes suggestive of leaves, and other details, so that when one backs away, it looked exactly right. I see that same sort of thing here, where simple marks all come together to form wonderful images. Impressed as always.

[GreyT]

good site design overall, your color work in particular's gorgeous

[Nato]

Hey Socar, I love the new site design. It's nicely organized, yet contemporary. A great way to showcase your work.

[Shipman]

Socar
Welcome to Canada. Your website is impressive. Your digital work has a Rococo feel but with an edge; Fragonard with a bite.

[Eric Lofgren]

Looking good as ever Socar :) As if there was any doubt ;)

[Jon H]

Looking great. A nice improvement, lots of content, easily navigated. I like it.

Though I quite liked the wild west font...:)

[BenPowis]

Great job, very clean, easy to read, and as Jon said, easy to navigate. Woo! :)

[Socar MYLES]

Thanks very much, guys--I'm really glad you like the new design! I'm no web designer, so I'm always worried I'll end up with another clunker like my last effort. :eek:

BenPowis - Thanks! I used a kind of big font on purpose so it should be easy to read.

JonH - Hehe, I secretly liked that font, too. But it didn't fit too well with my art, I must say.

Eric - Thanks very much! :D

Shipman - Thanks! I'm very flattered you'd say that--I'm a HUGE fan of Fragonard's. (Well, I suppose that's obvious, since my "Poisoner" looks suspiciously like his "Swing"...it even has similar anatomy problems! Of course, it's kinder to call these problems "stylizations"!)

Nato - Thanks very much! Glad you like it!

GreyT - Thanks! I figured I should put up the greyscale section anyway, though, since a lot of publishers seem to like that.

Tom Luth - Thank you! Landscapes are probably my favourite thing to paint, besides rats. Maybe I missed my calling--maybe I should've gone the matte-painting route. I think my ego's too big, though. I mean, when a matte painting is good, 99.99% of the audience doesn't even notice it's there. They don't think "Wow, I wonder who the matte painter was--that's stunning!" I like to be noticed.

AndyHep - Thanks! I hope you find the time to do some landscapes soon!

blobsticks - Thank you! Glad it all seems to be working for you!

[Wren]

Thank you! Landscapes are probably my favourite thing to paint, besides rats. Maybe I missed my calling--maybe I should've gone the matte-painting route. I think my ego's too big, though. I mean, when a matte painting is good, 99.99% of the audience doesn't even notice it's there. They don't think "Wow, I wonder who the matte painter was--that's stunning!" I like to be noticed.

I think i must be that .01% then. I also oooh and ahh over a lot of details in animation films like how lighting is handled (Dreamworks kicks Disney's butt in this arena) and specifics of placement and composition on a frame by frame rate. It drives my husband nuts... :p

I personally am terrible at landscapes so it's always blows my mind to see yours, Socar. Being a rather unconcential home decorator, i never would have even considered hanging a lanscape on one of my walls until i saw the ones you do. It makes me positivley green with envy...

And i love the updates to your site. Much cleaner and easier to navigate than before. :)

[MetalMan]

Originally posted by Socar MYLES
my "Poisoner" looks suspiciously like his "Swing"...it even has similar anatomy problems! Of course, it's kinder to call these problems "stylizations"!)


I don't care what you call them. I'm happy with it despite the "stylizations" ;)

Nice redesign too before I forget again! :rolleyes:

[Socar MYLES]

Wren - Well, you're an artist! But most people aren't...and non-artists usually don't even know what a matte painting is. This one guy I know thought they actually built all the...eh...buildings, I guess...in Lord of the Rings. I haven't seen it, so I'm not sure what buildings those would be, but I would imagine most of them were probably not built out of bricks and mortar. :D Thanks very much for the compliments on my landscapes, too--I'm very flattered!

MetalMan - Thanks! I'm glad you are happy with it. Actually, it's my belief that, while an artist should be able to draw correctly-proportioned anatomy, it's not always absolutely necessary. I think good composition is generally more important. While the legs in that particular picture would be very, very long...I think it looks more graceful that way. Of course, not everyone shares my views, but, really, with an illustration, as long as the customer's happy, and most viewers enjoy looking at it, a few little technical flaws aren't a disaster, and may even add character. (That's not to say I don't strive for perfection--I just don't consider it a huge failure if I don't get there, as long as I did my best and the picture generally works.)