10 Things I Will Do This Year to Make Myself More Marketable

Ok, so a long list follows with this thinking, since I am going to be the best damn artist of whatever medium I can sink my teeth into, I need to start marketing myself. So I'm thinking of priming up the online portfolio website and then since I'm on YouTube I might as well post a video resume as well, maybe tie that in with the website. I need to think of all the possibilities here.

Can't forget the "old school" marketing using the business cards and even passing out the resumes during the designer expos and job fairs, snagging some business cards of merchants at the expos and fairs and emailing them my resume or plugging for jobs that way. That's another option, just need to keep the eyes open for the expos and fairs to come around.

Of course, blog blog blog blog blog and peddle my services wherever possible! Another idea is definitely make some flash "commercials" and post them on my YouTube or email them out. hmmmmmmm....  Did I forget anything? Am I on the right idea path??

10 Best Free Font Resources

I love fonts and letters and different typefaces, they really do have a character all to themselves, a personality!! If the designer can channel that personality and use it in the correct way, the print will work and the meaning will be made. I had a HUGE thick typeface book that I used years ago that was my ultimate font resource book that I would go to, I miss that thing!! But thanks to the internet, SOOOOOOO much more can be found at your fingertips. I never did like typography class until I started paying on the computer (the fancy thinking box), then the whole typog thing became easier to understand and deal with. Spell check helped tons also, but it doesn't do so well with shortcut words.

http://www.1001freefonts.com/
http://www.dafont.com/
http://www.searchfreefonts.com/
http://www.free-fonts.com/
http://simplythebest.net/fonts/
http://www.1001fonts.com/
http://www.urbanfonts.com/  - all these fonts are more for the artistic and interesting side. I've used them from time to time.
http://www.cool-fonts.com/
http://www.fontspace.com/
http://www.acidfonts.com/
http://www.unstage.com/2010/02/70-of-the-best-free-fonts-for-graphic-designers/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/11/08/40-excellent-freefonts-for-professional-design/
http://www.downloadfreefonts.com/fontfiles/afonts.htm

So just in case a listing of awesome fonts is needed by all means look into these great links, I've used them on many occasion and I know I will be using them again and again. They definitely helped when I did my kinetic typography assignment, the fonts added to the meanings of the project, only used occasionally when a certain font was needed. Enjoy, uploaded for your pleasure. 

Some Awesome Quotes I've Heard

There have been some great quotes I've seen over the years, I snagged a few just because they were funny and had a few good points. I'll just keep adding to this here and there. :)  ENJOY!!

 

"Did I tell you how divinely and utterly happy I am?" - Audrey Hepburn

"I didn't discover curves, I only uncovered them." - Mae West

 

 "Life is too short to work so hard." - Vivien Leigh

 "One problem with people who have no vices is that they're pretty sure to have some annoying virtues." - Elizabeth Taylor

"I have no regrets. I wouldn't have lived my life the way I did if I was going to worry about what people were going to say." - Ingrid Bergman

"Acting is like sex; you either do it and don't talk about it or you talk about it and and don't do it. That's why I'm always suspicious of people who talk too much about either." - Humphrey Bogart

"You are not exactly Superman, but you are awfully available." - Vera-Ellen

"Love is a game that two can play and both can win." - Eva Gabor

"Everything you see I owe to spaghetti." - Sophia Loren

"Take your life in your own hands and mold it. The world will try to rob you of your freedom, but fight for it! It's all you have to live for! That's all for the modern girl." - Irene Dunne in "Theodora Goes Wild"

"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun." - Katharine Hepburn

"It wasn't the way I looked at a man, it was the thought behind it." - Gloria Grahame

"I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it." -  Marilyn Monroe

"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day." - Frank Sinatra

"I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty." - Imelda Marcos  

  - I Seem to like shoes A LOT also!!  :)

"I used to jog but the ice cubes kept falling out of my glass." - David Lee Roth

"I'm undaunted in my quest to amuse myself by constantly changing my hair." - Hillary Clinton     ....*note: I don't particularly care for Hil., but the quote was great! considering I change my hair color frequently!!  :)

10 Most Interresting YouTube Videos

I usually surf for videos when I'm thinking of a band or want to see a commercial or something. Since I've started school I've been using it more and more for tutorials and other learning's. It really is helpful, I've also been following classmates and of course, my teacher's site. I would highly recommend any of these sites for your viewing and learning pleasure. The last site was a great idea for a "sink your teeth in" video to show prospective employers, to get the job. I'd like to do something like that to snag that perfect job!!

• http://www.youtube.com/user/LilredheadComics
• http://www.youtube.com/user/JavaScriptTeacher
• http://www.youtube.com/user/70000tons
• http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperRiceProductions
• http://www.youtube.com/user/jimmyrcom
• http://www.youtube.com/user/FuschiaCrayon
• http://www.youtube.com/user/kerrigilpin
• http://www.youtube.com/user/TechHelpVideos
• http://www.youtube.com/user/cgsbgs
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYjlzZhPvKI

10 Fave Resources for Design Inspiration

I find so much inspiration in anything and anywhere really, I usually get thoughts and sketch them out or put them into the mental file cabinet.  They seem to come from anywhere, if I'm sitting chatting with friends or family or zoning out watching the television. Usually my best ideas or thoughts come to me when I'm not even thinking about it, then the light-bulb turns on.

I'm a visual kind of person, I like to see beauty and I get the best inspiration from magazines, cartoons, art of any kinds, billboards when I'm driving down the street, images on websites or in print ads, life in general really. Vehicles are another source some cars and trucks have such wonderful lines, motorcycles for the artwork and chrome. Lastly there's music, I listen to almost anything and sometimes it inspires me to create or even delve deeper into my work and not let me think. It's like the other side of my brain takes over and I disappear into whatever it is I'm doing.

If i really get stumped for ideas I usually talk to people, get a flow going and see where it takes me. Sometimes talking to people starts a thought that ends up being a great idea or even a few great ideas really. Ya know, now that I think about it, I have seen ideas in my dreams from time to time. It's nice to zone out in a relaxing place and meditate for ideas too.

10 Fave Sites for CSS Tutorials & Reference

Since Lynda.com is a pay per site, I go snooping for the freebies. There are so many of them but these few have helped me along with the videos and books I pick up at the library.What I found has been HUGELY helpful along the way, this is a list of the websites that have helped me with understanding CSS, a few websites to get an idea what the codes look like with the actual layout, cheats codes to help me figure out CSS to the HTML relation plus a YouTube video source that helped here and there along the way. I've found, for me at least, I need a video to see how things work so I can figure out the hows. I'm wired for visual understanding, reading this and that only goes so far.


http://www.davesite.com/webstation/css/
http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp
http://www.csstutorial.net/
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/stylesheets/introduction.html
http://www.freecsstemplates.org/
http://www.csszengarden.com/
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/css.html
http://www.allwebdesignresources.com/webdesignblogs/graphics/30-css-cheat-sheets-quick-reference-guides/
http://www.templatemill.com/products/gallery.php?gid=31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xklu0dUmVU

I'm trying to understand the JavaScript, MySQL and PHP stuff now, there is no easy way to understand that in a short time. Although. I did find a rather interesting YouTube video that has no vocals but Beethoven's 9th symphony plays while the person types. Just need to slow it down a bit...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t3ZysHg3Cc

I need to backtrack a few times just so I can "get" the little bits and pieces the person is explaining.  Alert brackets are interesting, probably not an idea to keep using them so's not to piss off the viewer. Ok, subscribed to that teacher, hope something more gets learned by me!! Maybe I should take more courses in this stuff to get me better prepared.  :)

10 Places I Will Visit in My Lifetime & Why

I love to travel, I love to sight see and have fun so traveling is always a passion for me. I don't need to see just a few places but I'd like to travel the world before I die. 

I've been to Scotland, England, Cozumel, Barbados and a handful of states in the U.S and would love to see more. Scotland and England were fun and wonderful places to see so going back to visit and tour is of course tops on my hit list. Then traveling to Germany, Italy, Japan, Ireland or wherever overseas would be awesome, it just looks so beautiful and fun! 

Coming back to the U.S I'd then travel to Canada and see why hockey is such a religion! I'm not a big Rush fan so it would be about the hockey. :) While in Canada I'd just take the trip to Montana and visit my family there for a while, then jump on the private jet and see Vegas, California, Arizona and Texas. Might as well take the plane to Michigan to see a friend and paint his man cave then off to Kentucky, Virginia, Louisiana and jump around a few places in Florida.

I have no doubts that I'd visit more places and sight see, I am a free spirit and wouldn't mind the exploration and learning new things. It's who I am. :)