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on eating one’s own dogfood

Well, here we are with the new version of golgotha.com.au. All database driven, and running in wordpress. This was done as a proof of concept – that I could use a readily available free platform like WP to provide the back end engine and all the post-design editing functions.

While I’m not going all out to do web design as a profession now, on occasion if an interesting project comes along, I’d like to be able to concentrate on the design, and base it on an engine that allows the client to manage the content themselves once my work is done (so I’m not doing 1 paragraph edits for ever afterwards).

It’s been an interesting journey getting this working – interesting in the Chinese sense. The biggest obstacle has been due to a rather nasty rendering bug in Apple’s WebKit rendering engine, which is the basis of the Safari, OmniWeb and iCab browsers. But, eventually I found a workaround, and now all is working well. If you do encounter any problems, please contact me and let me know.

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surfing the deathline 1

Sometime in the near future, software codemonkey Eddie is down to his last few dollars. Unemployed and living on, or rather under, the streets, he’s also facing “repossession” of his organs to cover student debts.

Now he’s been offered a job, a job that requires he risk his sanity taking an hallucinogen that’ll give him a chance at subverting a Machine Intelligence for a few critical minutes.

It’s called The Deathline, and he has to meet The Dealer to acquire it.

36 pages long.  Available free to read online (donations accepted – contact me if you want a print version, as I have some limited run stock). For more information, check the Surfing The Deathline site.

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surrender

This poster was produced for the 2007 Sydney Supanova convention. I was a tad uneasy about this one, since it deviated from the thematic elements I’d preferred – angry female characters wielding blunt objects. Still, I’d had a few people asking for images that were less in that direction, a couple specifically asking for some sort of “cyber chick”, and thus, this image. I think this one worked worked really well from a volumetric perspective, and the character has quite a different body type from the other two, far more solid (to my eye, at least).

What I like most about this one is the compositional alignment of the cog with the knees and shoulders.

This image was printed by our new printer and is even more lustrous than the others. Again, it’s a limited run of 50, on 200gsm stock, A3 size and available from the store.

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cliche

This is the most popular of the poster images I’ve created, and was done in tandem with Blank for the Sydney Supanova convention in late 2006. The character shown here may or may not make an appearance in the sequel to Surfing The Deathline, Nations.

The initial designs for the character date to 2002 when I was studying animation, during which I created a walk cycle animation of her. During a break from Surfing The Deathline I revived her for a sort of fantasy project, based around the idea of exploring queue rage – hence the name “Cliche”. As I rediscovered my enthusiasm for Surfing The Deathline I shelved the project, but who knows I may still pursue it.

Like Blank, this was a limited printrun of 50, signed and numbered. It’s printed on 200gsm stock, and A3 in size. There’s less than 10 remaining, so if you like it, go visit the store – they tend to sell pretty quickly when I do an event.

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blank

Everyone loves a girl with a shaven head, boots and a big freaking spanner.

And if you don’t, well, best say you do and avoid a spannering.

This image features the character “Blank” from Surfing The Deathline (free stuff to the first person to correctly identify the origin / reference of her name). I think as an image this is the best of the posters, mainly for the sense of weight and inertia the character carries to one side, balanced by the cog wheel.

Fun fact: the rusty metal surface of the cog is a photo of my coffee table.

The poster of this image is A3 size and printed in full colour on 200gsm stock. It’s a limited signed and numbered printrun of 50 only, and they’re available from the Golgotha store.

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Supernova Sydney 2007

Supanova Sydney 2007 saw the release of a new poster “Surrender”, which was somewhat more cheesecake than the other posters.

Exhibited Works:

  • Surfing The Deathline Episode 1
  • Surfing The Deathline Episode 2
  • Blank
  • Cliche
  • Surrender
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Sydney Writers’ Festival Zine Fair

The SWF Zine Festival was held outdoors on the finger wharfs in Sydney Harbour. One of the most interesting locations I’ve been in to exhibit work.

Exhibited Works:

  • Surfing The Deathline Episode 1
  • Surfing The Deathline Episode 2
  • Blank
  • Cliche
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Supanova Sydney 2006

Supanova Sydney 2006 was the first  convention at which I exhibited graphic novels and posters.

Exhibited Works:

  • Surfing The Deathline Episode 1
  • Surfing The Deathline Episode 2
  • Blank
  • Cliche
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orana credit union

This design was created for Orana Credit Union. Many years later, I still think it’s a beautifully elegant layout, with the vertically and horizontally opposed icons for primary navigation. The bottom ones are all verb enablers, leading to functions, whereas those on the top are for informational division

The entire design scales to any browser size, and the yellow space on the home page was an adjustable post-it note space for quick news pieces etc. It’s a frames based site, which I wouldn’t do these days, but given when the design was done, that was the sanest technology choice.