About My Website
My website has gone through many stages. The very first stage was white, plain, and odd. I had images of cats everywhere. Second stage – I used matching graphics to make it look better, but it was still amateur and plain. Next, I colored it black and changed the colors a lot, adding new, random pages and getting bored with the colors every couple of days. And then, I made it into what you see here. At that point, my site was no longer amateur looking, (well, not that much) and I actually had a decent amount of links and pages. My pages, however, lacked substance, and was not using CSS yet - so every page was different.
The Awakening
One day, I was cruising the internet, and I came across the network of anime art sites. I don’t know how, but I was thrust into a world of color, obsession, and absolutely beautiful webpages. I wanted a design like them immediately, and so I created my next design, my first CSS layouts. I created three interchangeable ones and could not decide on which one I wanted permanently – one was white and blue/gray, one was blue and yellow, and one was burgundy and coral orange.
And then, a new network of sites. By this time, I had learned how to make website layouts and had already started my earliest ones (influenced by the anime art sites.) I wanted to learn more about Photoshop, so I searched “Photoshop brushes” on Google. And suddenly, a new world opened up – a network of digital art sites, all offering layouts, photoshop brushes, stock images, tutorials, and a lot more.
This is when I designed the first “pretty page” layout for my site – the “Flight Without Feathers” layout (some of you might remember.) At the time, I couldn’t believe how great it had turned out. I created all new pages, a whole new layout, and basically, a totally new website. Unfortunately, I was soon sick of it, and I created the next one (the pink and green layout.) I liked it a lot better because it was not an iframe layout and the CSS coding was positively brilliant. Up to this point, I had gotten a deviantART and started creating website layouts again, but deviantART really got me motivated to improve. So I decided to create a new layout for my site and give it a general makeover.
The Last Couple Versions
I went through a couple ideas, and almost settled on one, until the layout got lost. I didn’t have another copy of it, so I would have either had to create a new one or redo the layout (which at the time was not an option in my book, because one, it would never be the same and I would therefore never be happy with it, and two, the positioning and the general CSS took forever.) By this time, I had just created “Glorious Twilight” and “Furtive,” so I decided to make a “Clandestine”/“Furtive” type layout for my site. I ended up with version eight, I guess? (not talking about the times I was ADD on the color scheme way back when.) My green/pink version didn’t actually have a name (what could I call it, anyway? At least “Flight Without Feathers” could be called such because it had that theme, though I called the actual version "Sorrowless Rain.") That version was called “Beautiful Earth.” It was an iframe layout again. The issues with that layout were that the text was extremely small and only someone around my age could probably read it. Also, the navigation box was also iframe (like “FWF”) so one had to scroll, which is a pain. Also, for my screen resolution, the edge of the graphic behind the text got cut off a bit, but I set the body tag in the main document to “scroll=“no”,” so the page itself won’t scroll down (like “FWF” used to do. That was really annoying.)
Needless to say, I changed that layout to my last one, which was called "Nymph." I was getting negative feedback about my other layout, especially from my family - about how people's screen resolutions were too screwy with the navigation box being at the bottom of the page, and people not being able to read the text. I wanted to change it anyway. The reason why Nymph was so different from my other ones is that I had been introduced to the wonderful world of fractal art (I know, another art world) and I absolutely love the magic-like look of fractals. I made the one on the side of that layout with a program called Apophysis, which doesn't require programming and advanced math knowledge to deal with. I love all of the gorgeous things I make with Apophysis - please google it and download it; it's free, and fun to play with.
The Newest Layout
Starting in April 2008, I decided to do an complete overhaul, and I played with quite a few website layout ideas (I had been playing with a few before - as you can see with the creation of the layouts "MUSIC" and "Frontier.") Eventually, I decided that I was fed up with trying to create "the perfect layout" for my website, and I wanted it to be somewhat simple. That is how this layout was born; I took a few pictures, put them into photoshop, and created a layout. This version is called "Domino," which refers to the song Domino by Girugamesh. I was listening to that song on "repeat" setting as I created the bulk of the layout, so I associated the layout with that song. FInally, I am back to div layer - I was lazy about converting all my iframe pages back to layers - but the idea of "total overhaul" and "simplicity" got me geared up. Perhaps this isn't as simple as some other layouts - but I was playing around with 5 megabyte jpegs and endless backgrounds and text changes where I honestly didn't have to. Maybe this reflects growth?
Of course, the text is still tiny. Maybe I am prejudice against text larger than 12px. But the lack of iframes makes this site more friendly, I think. I love color, lots of color everywhere - so this layout is a little hard and cold in that respect. Not to mention that endless columns of light gray text tend to blur one's vision after a while. But all in all, I think this is an improvement.
Curious to see my old site designs? Visitt my Old Layouts - all of the ones that are not too embarrassing to show are listed and displayed there.
My website has been through a lot. It went from a “fun-nonsense-‘Learn about me! How fun!’” personal site to an “Inuyasha-random-pages-desperate-to-match” site, made a stop at “kinda-artsy-still-about-boring-old-me” webpage, and hopefully, it is at the “full-fledged-art-site” level now. I hope to keep improving and polishing it, so any criticism is welcome.
About Me
I've had this website for 7 years now - I've had it since my tenth birthday, I believe. I've spent my life creating artwork, and have been working on my skills since I was small. In the past five years, I've focused on graphic art, but along the way, I've managed to pick up a few other things, like fractal art, charcoal drawing, and photography. The most recent addition is photography - and I'm extremely excited about it. I can't wait to learn more about cameras and lenses, different filters and perspective. I'm a real novice at the moment.
I think that my biggest fault is that I tend to get obsessed with something that I am working on - to the detriment, most of the time, of everything else. If I have started a new piece of art, I just HAVE to work on it and finish it. Before, I needed to do something like lose the file or have my computer crash in order to make myself stop. I've gotten better at controlling this - I try to limit my art time to the early morning and my free time, because there are more important things, like my schoolwork.
I don't view myself as a good artist, because I see all kinds of phenomenal work out there, work that my own does not even come close to in terms of "being good." This is especially true for the type of art that I do the most - surreal digital art. Also, I know that my charcoal drawings are pretty mediocre - the features of my subjects tend to be too small, and I still do a lot of smudging. I have maybe one or two good photographs, and the rest are all pretty regular and unoriginal. Maybe that is justifiable for my photography since I have just started - but the rest of my artwork, I feel, improves too slowly. This is something that I think every day, and something that is constantly on my mind while I create. In a way, it's given me a "It's not good enough, go fix it," kind of mentality, which helps improve individual pieces of art while I'm working on them. Because I think this way, I am constantly looking at the artwork of others - looking at technique and style.
Some people seems to think I have potential - and this includes my supportive group of friends and family. My family has always encouraged me to improve, and my friends are always offering praise and criticism. I have so much to thank them for - everything from general support to buying me art materials.
Other Interests
Besides art, my other general interests are programming, reading, and writing. The only thing I do none of is sports - I'm the girl who would stare curiously wide-eyed at a basketball before it smacked me on the head - but I still like to keep up with American football. I love almost everything having to do with crafts as well - I make jewelry and occasionally I sew something (or try to, not always with success.) I go through phases where I am attatched to a certain book series or author. I've gone through Harry Potter, Nancy Drew, Jodi Picoult, and Tamora Pierce phases, and am currently in a Twilight phase. This also widens out to music phases, though I love all kinds of music. But I suppose everyone goes through these.
Enough about boring old me. Keep browsing!