Here again.

Not had chance to make any changes yet.

I’m wondering whether to add the new tutorials as screencast movies or as static web pages with screen grabs. I’d prefer the screencasts but I’m wondering if I will have to also make the static pages in the long run so may as well just get on with creating them now.

Hmm, I don’t know.

I’ve not really had chance to make the real updates to the site that i wanted to do so they will have to wait a while longer.

But the good news is that there are definately two new wallpapers ready and waiting to upload and two more started.

I believe this new material shows a leap forward in style and technical ability - it makes the the current wtfcody wordpress theme and current wallpapers look crude in comparison. So, yes, I’m very proud of what I’ve got waiting here - hopefully you’ll agree with me when you see them.

Also, wftCody.com is going to get a little more serious once I start with the new content and site changes. I’ll be frequently posting what I can - as I’ve mentioned before, there is plenty of older material to get through. Maybe it will be more interesting to start with the newer material and just put a few old things in now and again - I’ll see how I feel about it at the time.

As I’m not entirely sure how ’serious’ things will become and I’ve not really decided on what should stay and what should go, so you’ll have to forgive me if you find that some parts of the website don’t work or completely vanish. The main thing is that there will be something new and interesting to see at least once a week. “Interesting” means that I’m going to try to include useful content for people interested in things related to drawing Cody. That could mean how I did something using Adobe Illustrator or it could mean me revealing a few of the artists I admire - generally, if it’s a topic related to graphics then I’ll be considering saying something about it.

That should be enough for now then. I’ll be back in a couple of days…

There will be at least one major new Cody thing arriving for Halloween - hopefully there will be more new or udpated things appearing at the same time or very soon after. Here’s an idea of what to expect:

New ‘wallpapers’. One is definitely finished - I consider it my first ‘digital painting’ using Adobe Illustrator. Other wallpapers are planned that will be ‘new improved’ versions of the original wallpaper that I did around this time last year.

New tutorial on how the above ‘digital painting’ was done. This will be released in installments as it’s way too big to do in one go.

New stuff that I won’t mention as I’ll look a fool if it never happens.

I’m planning a wtfcody.com reboot to jump start the website.

There is a back log of content that should be on here so I’m going to sort through it and then start with the regular updates.

Whilst I’m planning this reboot I welcome any suggestions for new Cody related material or ideas that would be fitting for wtfcody.com.

Email me, or Cody, or simply leave a comment if you think of something that should be done - all suggestions welcome.

(I’ve not set a specific date for the reboot but it will probably be sometime in August.)

Look how long ago it was that I last posted something.

Really shameful.

I’ve now had the disturbing experience of watching wtfcody.com appear inside a browser using a 56k modem. Oh dear, oh dear.

I admit that I neglected to think about slow dial-up connections when designing this web site, but I wasn’t expecting to see the graphics appear as slowly as they did when using the 56k modem.

I’ll make my apology now to anyone that isn’t on broadband (or better) when viewing this site as it’s not much fun. I won’t be making any changes though. The whole point of the design was to be graphic intensive so there isn’t really an easy way of changing things - the pages still download quicker than a typical flash based site anyway.

Maybe I’ll have a go at making it less heavy in a few months. The java navigation is probably the main thing that needs to go - it’s been nothing but trouble from the start and it obviously isn’t a quick thing to download with the number of small images it uses.

Whilst doing my morning browsing I eventually discovered this website: www.WhatTheDuck.net

It kind of looks familiar doesn’t it. Even the domain name is a bit like experiencing déjà vu. But what can I say. I’m not a plagiarist, I thought the wtf tag would be unique if not very rare. I guess this kind of thing can’t be avoided when there are several quintillion web pages out there - there has to be similarities. I bet there are five people out there right now that have just wrote “there are several quintillion web pages out there” into a their WordPress blog.

So, what about www.WhatTheDuck.net. Well, I think it’s fantastic. I think the humour and the theme of Photography is a great mix. The original idea for the Cody comic was to focus on computers or things discussed in the DC forum, which is a bit like what WhatTheDuck.net is doing. This, I have to confess, makes we wonder whether it’s worth continuing. I really don’t see the point in repeating something that Aaron Johnson has already done very well.

They say that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery. I’m not sure whether I wish to pay my respects to WhatTheDuck.net in such a way - well, for it to appear that is what i’m doing, at least.

Maybe I have been looking for an excuse not to do the Cody comic and now I have found it. I shall have to see what Cody thinks to all of this.

The new improved version of the tutorial on how to create a ‘droplet’ is now up.

Using the droplet will allow you to create your own curved thumbnail images without having to go through loads of repetitive steps.

You can even just download the ‘action set’ and ‘droplet’ that I’ve made - so you don’t even have to bother reading the tutorial. I have to say that if you do take the time to create your own then you’ll be able to create something better than what I’ve provided in the download.

I think I’ve got the automated thumbnail thing working. It always worked it seemed but I was expecting it to behave in a more forgiving manner.

So, I’ll make a few changes to the tutorial I removed and then upload it again. The only drawback is that there are a few conditions that have to be taken into account before running the action/droplet - no big deal I suppose.

I’ll sort it out this week. It was really bugging me that I had to remove the tutorial.