Tears for Japan fundraiser complete

Thanks to everyone who participated in my Tears for Japan fundraiser campaign!
A total of $163 was raised (I rounded) and donated to Save the Children Federation.

1 new wallpaper (Toward the Terra - Tears for Terra)

1 new wallpaper: Toward the Terra - Tears for Terra (Art Nouveau)

I started this wallpaper over a year ago, having finished the character artwork trace fairly quickly. It then sat on my hard drive for many months as I never got around to completing the Art Nouveau-styled frame for it. Then, last week the Northeastern Japan earthquake and tsunami struck… I wanted to show my support for Japan, so I looked through my work-in-progress folder and found this. It was oddly fitting, seeing Jomy and Physis mourning for a home they never had, while many Japanese mourn for a home that is lost… [more]

10 years

Holy cow. DA! Desktop Anime turns 10 today.
I want to say more, but I've just gotten in from a 2 week business trip. And I'm going to bed.

1 new wallpaper (Lupin the Third - Catch me if you can)

1 new wallpaper: Lupin the Third - Catch me if you can (Art Deco)

Another wallpaper with some Art Deco sensibilities. This one is based off of the fabulous opening sequence to Catch Me if You Can. At first I was going to use Bebop characters (which also has a classy Deco vibe to the art) and was going to call it "Bebop if you can", but the more I thought about it, the more Lupin fit, what with Zenigata vs Lupin's crew... [more]

1 new wallpaper (Tonari no Totoro - Travelogue 02: Ride the CatBus)

1 new wallpaper:
Tonari no Totoro - Travelogue 02: Ride the CatBus (Art Deco)

Second in my Art Deco Travelogue series. To recap, I absolutely love Art Deco travel posters, so I wanted to create a series of wallpapers of travel posters for the Anime world. This one features the Fast - Friendly - Fuzzy service of the Cat Bus from My Neighbor Totoro... [more]

1 new wallpaper (Okami - Zodiac: Tiger)

1 new wallpaper:
Okami - Zodiac: Tiger (Ukiyo-e)

Happy New Year! Today marks the start of the year of the Tiger, so how about a new Okami wall featuring a tiger? [more]

1 new wallpaper (Vocaloid - Singing Through the Noise)

1 new wallpaper:
Vocaloid - Singing Through the Noise (Grunge)

I chose this scan because somehow I liked the style (when I later found related scans and learned they were all by Miwa Shirow, I figured out why -- I like Shirow's bold lines and use of black.) Anyhow, a trace to clean things up, and then it was time for grunge... [more]

Back to the old grind

So I've been away from walling for nearly a year. This isn't that I've completely stopped walling, it's that I needed a break, and real-world obligations became more important.
First, I'd been making roughly 1 wall per month from 2007-early 2009 (this was down from about 2-3 walls per month in years past.) That's actually quite a bit of walling considering I have a full-time job and a desire to have a social life. I felt obligated to keep walling at that speed because I had done it for so long, and it was beginning to weigh down.
Additionally, work suddenly turned up a notch. There was a major new Toolbar release (version 6), and I also picked up responsibilities for Chrome which had several launches (although I did get to sneak in a few of my own designs in the Google-created themes gallery, which is awesome.) I also went to New York for a week to kick off themes in Google Spreadsheet Forms (again, I added some of my own designs in the mix -- Zen Spring is every~where♥.)
All of a sudden, in spring of 2009 I was asked if I was interested in working from the Tokyo office for a year. The branch of our team that handles Asia/Pacific requests needed some help and was hoping to get a seasoned webmaster out of HQ, and asked for me.
To which I almost immediately said, "Sign me up!"
The next few months were spent getting ready for the move (paperwork) and transferring some projects to others so I could take on new ones in Tokyo. And then, I moved!
It's been a busy few months transitioning over, finding an apartment, figuring out how to pay the utility bills, and meeting all the awesome people in the Tokyo office. Now things are finally settling down, and I'm ready to get back to some walling!
I don't expect to be able to match the 1 wallpaper/month speed I had previously. I'm not going to try to. I'm just going to make walls when I feel like it. I have some ideas and I'm going to fly with them as I see fit. So sit back and relax, and perhaps subscribe to the feed for updates (or add me to watchlists on Minitokyo or AnimePaper) because I'm still here, and I still mean to stay.
Also, I have totally, utterly missed DA!'s Nth birthday in May. I'm working on a new layout right now, actually. Maybe it'll be up in time to celebrate 2010. It's always good to start the New Year off with a clean slate, right?

The state of the site

So obviously I haven't been making any walls lately. I've been busy with work, and a whole lot of it. Toolbar, Chrome, and Docs have all had numerous launches, and I've also been working on a variety of other projects. I have also recently bought a Nintendo DSi and have been rediscovering my love for SNES RPGs, as well as a love for BBC America programming. I haven't even turned on my desktop computer in several months, doing all my stuff on my work laptop.

I'd like to continuing making wallpapers, but right now I don't feel a whole lot of motivation. Maybe I'll find some inspiration when...

I move to Japan!

I will be working from Japan for a year starting in August, helping out our team in Tokyo. This is a big change and I'm really excited, and also kind of freaking out over all the stuff I need to wrap up before I do so. Definitely not going to have anything out before then. Maybe afterwards. Time will tell.

No wallpaper for February

Unless I manage to either a) freeze time or b) steal a TARDIS, there's not going to be a wallpaper for February.
This is what's been keeping me busy all month.
I may just manage to squeak out a new iGoogle theme, but February is a short month...