Eric Shalley

Another illustration for a quarterly health magazine. It was for an article on osteoporosis awareness and prevention.

View the illustration larger.

This week I got to step out of my web designer shoes and do some illustration work for a quarterly health magazine. It was a nice break from my typical schedule.

View the full comic.

I came across Grant Hamilon’s Flickr Stream today and was stunned by his Polaroid work. He definitely has a handle on color, composition, and presentation. These photos make my insides smile. I could really look at these all day long, so simple and serene.

Visit Grant’s Flickr Stream.

Visit Grant’s portfolio.

I have been using this fantastic resource for a few weeks now, and thought I would share it. The site allows you to browse different font styles and types and retrieve the CSS code to achieve the results for your web projects. It is so easy to use and has saved me quite a bit of time from the trial and error way I typically go about exploring web type.

Try Typechart out for yourself.

Have you ever wondered what a robot might pretend to be? Robo4000XL dreams of being a fluffy bunny, with the power of imagination anything is possible.

Graphite on paper. Color added in Photoshop.

Click the image to enlarge.

I wanted to share a new logo that I just finished for a client. The company is a new performance apparel design firm specializing in show choir and gymnastics outerwear.

You can view a larger version on my portfolio page. Simply scroll down to the logo section.

I was experimenting with Illustrator today and decided to share what I came up with in the form of desktop wallpaper. Click on your desired resolution, right click on the image, and choose “Set as desktop background.” Having the best desktop in your office has never been easier!

1680×1050
1024×768

After 9 months of dragging my feet, I finally upgraded my home computer operating system to Windows Vista Home Premium. I admit I was very skeptical and listened to all of the bad press that surrounds Microsoft’s newest operating system. I feared that even after running multiple successful system checks that most of my programs wouldn’t function and I would have to go through the hassle of updating drivers for all of my added components. I even have a computer that far exceeds the recommended requirements for the total Aero (Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open) experience. Still I waited 9 months. Why?

For me, negative word of mouth, laziness, and Apple’s clever and very effective Mac v.s. PC ads all contributed to my delay. I feel somewhat foolish for not digging in deeper to find my own answers, but my copy of XP was running fine and I thought I had little reason to upgrade.

I can tell you that I wish I would have upgraded months sooner. Installation was simple, though it took a few hours to fully upgrade. I am very pleased with all of the new features and am a big fan of the new interface look and feel. The frosted glass, tab preview, and 3D window flip are handy and eye pleasing. Admittedly the 3D flip seems like Microsoft’s take on Apple’s Expose, but it is a welcomed feature to me since I constantly flip from Photoshop, to a code editor, to a web browser, and back again.

Being a designer who works on a Mac all day at work and uses a PC at home gives me a somewhat unique view of each platform. (And funny looks from all of my hardcore Mac creative friends.) Pre-Vista I obviously would have given the user experience edge to Mac’s OSX, but I feel that Vista has taken many of the nice features found in OSX and expanded on them to create a rich user experience. I use a Mac 40 hours a week, have 3 iPods, and am an inspiring iPhone user, but I still love Vista. If you are on the fence as I was, go for it, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

I was also intrigued by Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment. If you haven’t heard about it, it is a blind test with users thinking they are using a new operating system (Mojave), but they are actually using Vista. The numbers are astounding, with 94% of the participants ranking Mojave higher than Vista. Mojave also earned an 8.5 average test rating, where Vista earned just 4.4. This just goes to show how powerful negative word of mouth and advertising can be.

I was excited to see Microsoft at least take a stand with their new No Walls campaign. It is bound to get interesting as Microsoft appears to finally be fighting back.

Peanut Butter never looked so good. Jelly’s not bad either. Fast, cheap and easy…AND green. Roll with Gus.

Our awesome creative team has launched yet another hilarious video. Once you go with jorts and golf shoes, you will never go back. Be warned, this song will play in your head for the rest of the day.

It’s nice that we are getting to experiment with some fun social/viral ideas. This wild idea was for a recent new business pitch.

For years, General Grover has worked alone to put humanity in its place—but now he’s seeking support from minions the world over at kittyattackblog.com—with hilarious results.

On his new site, this devious feline will blog about his exploits, illustrating battle plans and posting video footage of gut-splittingly funny kitty attacks. He’ll also seek suggestions from potential supporters of every species, and whenever possible, implement their ideas in future attacks.

We don’t dare call it the next LOL cats (although we won’t be surprised if you do), but kittyattackblog.com is so funny, it just might make you pee your litter box!

It’s all part of a social media experiment created by Finelight’s interactive department. The site as a whole is designed to generate leads for a health insurance broker, but the sales messages are just a small part of the multimedia hilarity happening at kittyattackblog.com.

Visit kittyattackblog.com today and watch as General Grover’s revolution takes on a life of its own!