Coming soon: iGoogle Papercuts theme

Don't these images look familiar? ;)
I plan on reoptimizing all the images for this iGoogle theme over the weekend, and then uploading to a Google Code Hosting project. Once that's done I'll be submitting it to the directory. It'll be available on a preview basis while it goes through the iGoogle theme review process. It'll be a daily theme with seven different skins in all, cycling through animals including a dragon, phoenix, carp, butterfly, and several different birds.

Other Projects

Just as an FYI, I am also doing some work designing iGoogle themes. These won't be anime themes, but will also be something to look out for from me. My first theme is going to be based on the same Chinese papercut designs I'm using for the DA! layout.

1 new wallpaper (Aa! Megamisama - Le Soleil Radieux)

1 new wallpaper:
Aa! Megamisama - Le Soleil Radieux (Art Nouveau)

Another fun AMG wallpaper in Alphonse Mucha Art Nouveau style.
I liked the curve of Belldandy's wings in the original scan, and figured I could use in a Nouveau-style framing with a sun-in-glory complementing the arc of her wings. So I did just that... [more]

Random logo tomfoolery

Was tooling around with text in Illustrator. Some random logo concepts for Anime Expo 2008 Karaoke Contest and/or the Karaoke Kaizoku-dan:

It's rather retro. The shift-color logos make me think of those "ABC Specials" graphics they used to have in the 80s, where the text would color-shift and zoom in with that catchy drum beat rolling in the background.

Making Katamari in the Snow

Here's a quick rundown on how I watercolored "Katamari in the Snow".
First, I started with the vector trace (Illustrator 9):

Then I moved on to Painter 9 and the watercolor tool:

This is similar to how I've watercolored previous works (such as Mountain's Red Leaves.

1 new wallpaper (Katamari Damacy - Katamari in the Snow)

1 new wallpaper:
Katamari Damacy - Katamari in the Snow (Scenic)

While randomly browsing the Namco Katamari Damacy site, I got sucked into playing the character matching game, which introduces a bunch of new cousins. One of them was a snowman, and I figured it would be an excellent base for a new Katamari wall, with the Prince rolling up the poor unsuspecting Snowman into a new katamari... [more]

1 new wallpaper (Artist: Hyung-Tae Kim - All That Jazz)

1 new wallpaper:
Artist: Hyung-Tae Kim - All That Jazz (Art Deco/Minimalistic)

A fun, sexy wallpaper of a jazz singer, inspired by some taxi advertising for a local Jazz/Blues lounge. I thought the original image by Hyung-Tae Kim was a good fit, and basically flattened out the colors to give it a stylized, more Art Deco type of feel... [more]

1 new wallpaper (Romeo x Juliet - Take Flight)

1 new wallpaper:
Romeo x Juliet - Take Flight (Scenic)

I haven't done a fluffy bishounen wall in a while, so here it is. Pretty boy! With wings! And OMGPONIES!!!!!11!!1one1eleven [more] [dual screen version]

Random non-anime wall

Now, I know perfectly well that Android's Dalvik Virtual Machine is named after a
place in Iceland but every time I read "Dalvik Virtual Machine" I keep reading it as "Dalek Virtual Machine." I also know perfectly well that Daleks aren't androids, being organic/biological beings encased in metal armor, but those pepperpot exteriors are certainly robotic enough. So of course I had to make this parody of the Android logo using a Dalek.
I've seen one other person who had a status message of "Can't we just agree it's 'Dalek virtual machine'?" so I'm not the only Googler to make the connection.
Image was made in Photoshop on my laptop with a trackpad based off of an image on Wikipedia of the 2005 version, because I was watching TV when making it (sadly, not Doctor Who, although I caught the end of "Parting of the Ways" the night before).
Also available in icon form

1 new wallpaper (xxxHolic - Small Spider Weave)

1 new wallpaper:
xxxHolic - Small Spider Weave (Art Nouveau)

Another Art Nouveau wallpaper, this time in the delicate styles of Aubrey Beardsley. I started this wallpaper a year (and a week) ago because the original scan of Yuuko reminded me heavily of Beardsley's "The Peacock Skirt"... [more]