CDex Icon

So, remember how I was talking about that CDex icon? This one:

I mentioned I was going to make a new one, and well, I've done just that. Take a look:

So yeah, it pretty much looks nothing like the old one. I originally had the idea to do just do a CD with "ex" in small letters in the bottom corner or something. Then I saw this icon:

designed by Simon Cook, and I thought the X in the middle was great. So I made my own CD with the X in the middle, then put the "e" on the left. It didn't quite feel finished, so I put an upside down "e" on the other side. I thought about doing "e"s all the way around, but it wouldn't have been right.

Like the K-Meleon icon, it took quite a long time. Lots of masks. Lots of different colour choices, but that orange just got into my head.

Anyway, if you want to use it, click here to download it.

Karma K-Meleon

Geez, it's been about a month since I've posted in here. I haven't had much to post about, and I hate just regurgitating other information, so blah.

But anyway, I've found a new hobby (sure to last only a few days). That hobby is creating icons.

It started when I began trying to make my own PS3 theme. I scoured the net for icons to use on the XMB, and came across some really great icons. IconArchive.com, iconBase.com, and IconsPedia.com have some great selections (though you'll find plenty of overlap).

So I d/led some icons to replace various ones on my computer, and started noticing all the ugly icons I had left that I hadn't been able to find replacements for. Well, there was only about 4 or 5 that I thought needed changing, and now there are only 2.

The first icon I made was for Google Talk. The original icon: isn't necessarily ugly, I just wanted something a little more polished. Having searched for that icon up there, it came to my attention that there are quite a few custom icons for Google Talk, but never mind. Anyway, so this is what I came up with:

Note: The pink/green background isn't there on the actual icon.

My second icon was made for K-Meleon. A little known browser running off the same gecko engine as Mozilla, Firefox, etc. I've become a bit of a browser collector lately, using Firefox, Opera, K-Meleon and (only when necessary) IE. But anyway, this was the original icon for K-Meleon: Kind of cutesy, but very pixelated, and not transparent. I went searching for custom icons on Google, but there was nothing. Anyway, it was a VERY long process, but in the end I came up with this:

Much better if I do say so myself. And again, the pink/green background isn't a part of the actual icon.

The next couple I want to replace are the icons for Audacity and CDex. There are a few custom Audacity icons around, but only one of them is any good (to me, at least), and that is this one here. If you want to use the icon, just ask him (I did) and he'll send you the png which is awesome. So here's a plug to JohnLepinski.com. He is one heck of a graphic designer.

The current CDex icon is just plain horrible: I mean it's pixelated, it's not keeping in with the current trends. It's a very Win95 icon :D There's a couple out there for it, but they're not that great either, so I'll have to see what I can come up with.

Btw, if you want that Google Talk icon, it's available here ().

I Make Computer Graphics, You Can Too!

I make many things. As the last post attests to, I make videos (occasionally), but I also make computer graphics. In fact, I mentioned a computer graphics program and a couple of processes in the previous post.

I started out tinkering with computer graphics and photo manipulation back when I was in high school with a version of Paintshop Pro 7 I downloaded off Kazaa (yes, I know, not exactly a moral thing to do, but I was a kid, I wanted something, and I couldn't pay for it). I don't know why I didn't go with Photoshop, but that's not the point. I learned the basics from that program, and I still miss its interface from time to time :D

Anyway, after playing with that for a good while, and learning of the dangers (and immorality :D) of filesharing, I decided I needed a change. I had read on a forum somewhere about this thing called the Gimp that was free (and opensource), and decided to check it out. I absolutely hated it at first. It was nothing like Jasc's PSP 7, and I couldn't do what I wanted to do with it. I decided to stick with it just because I couldn't afford anything else, and started to relearn how to do things in the Gimp that I used to do in PSP 7.

Fast forward a few years to now, and I can say I'm definitely satisfied with the Gimp. I don't use all the features available, but I can usually get the results I desire. I've also added Inkscape (another free and opensource graphics program) to my arsenal to handle vector graphics.

As for things I've created with these programs, all the images used in the design of this blog (and my other blogs) were created with the Gimp and Inkscape. This banner I used for my travel blog (that hasn't been updated in a while :D) was made from a bunch of images that I chopped up and mashed together. And I made the backwards New Zealand sign in Inkscape. Here it is without the text:


I recently designed a banner for Cmae's blog:


And although they haven't decided to use it, I designed a web 2.0 logo for ...shot then.com (my first real attempt at a web 2.0 style logo):

I made this for a friend:

Then there's my avatar:


And then this for another friend's avatar (that Cap'n text wasn't originally there):

Made this for another friend:

Another thing made for a friend:


I made this just for fun:


This one was for a friend (the guy actually in the image :D He doesn't look like that in real life :D):


Oh, and that image I made for Valentine's Day:


All images where applicable.

Haha, this turned into a gallery of sorts. I just wanted to show off some images I'm proud of.

So yeah. I make computer graphics, and you can too!