Web & Design
I’m all about giving credit where credit’s due. I’m here to tell you that my blog would look like a big, steaming hot mess, and I would be crying under a pile of html, were it not for the patience and talent of four wonderful people. All I’ve done is put a picture here and then move it there, type a little here and then move it there. If you’re thinking of setting up your website for self-hosting (i.e. not using free hosting like blogspot or wordpress.com), then do yourself a huge favor and take a look at these vetted recommendations:
Hosting:
Nate Clendenin was the internet servant I wish I could employ around the house every day. He did all of my dirty work orchestrating the switch. He referred me to an awesome hosting company who charges about half of what everyone else wanted. He did 99% of the setup on my new site for me: installed WordPress so I could actually use my site, exported/imported all of my old posts from my blogspot, dealt with every little hiccup that popped up with switching my domain name from godaddy to my new host (there were quite a few and I wouldn’t have had the slightest idea what to do), responded to about 150 million emails from me and about twenty other awesome things I know I’m forgetting. I’ve known him for over 15 years, so I can attest to the fact that he’s so trustworthy that I gave him all of my passwords (email, Google, godaddy, new server, etc) for the week and just let him do whatever he needed… Tell me what I need to know and nothing more, please. The fee for his all-inclusive services is so embarrassingly small that I can’t bring myself to type it in public. I swear to god, you’ll never believe a person could do so much work for so little pay. If you require less hand-holding, he even has a minimalist service package where he won’t charge you anything. You should get in touch with him at his contact page. If you want to see some pretty eye-candy he made, this site is beeeeeaaaautiful. Am I smart and capable enough to have muddled my way through it if I had to? Sure. But it would have been a complete nightmare. Why bother?
Design:
You like my purple flowers? You like the layout, the fonts, the customized comment links? That’s all down to the design savvy of the crew over at arcanepalette.com . As the credit at the bottom of my blog will tell you, my site is a customized theme based on Indian Flowers which is available in their premium Museum Themes. Me being me, I wanted it perfectly done, so they (Chris in particular) catered to my high-maintenance ass and tweaked things until I looooovvvveeed it–money quite well spent. They even have some free themes available if you’re not as impossible as me. Again, he answered all of my technologically-challenged questions, (even the really, really dumb ones) and the tiniest requests for changes, all quickly and nicely and thoroughly. Who could ask for more? At Arcane Palette, their goal is to, “populate the web with customized sites that are delicious looking and refreshingly good for you… We want each site we design to have a fresh, artistic look that you could hang in an art museum.” A lofty, but well-accomplished goal, I’d say.
Logo:
How ‘bout that pinup, eh? Smokin’ hot! As I told you in the post where she was introduced, my long-time dear friend and tattoo artist, Thomas from Barking Dog Tattoo in Springfield, MO drew her up to my exacting (read: incredibly difficult and high-maintenance) request. He set the standard for putting up with my crap as he spent two weeks dealing with email after email where I wanted her hand just a tiny bit different, maybe her foot set half an inch to the left or her hair just the slightest bit tweaked. He didn’t kill me—major miracle—and I ended up with the drawing of my dreams… to match all the tattoo work of my dreams he’s given me. He is NOT a graphic designer, the pinup was drawn with pencil and paper, final copy was inked over with pen and colored in by hand, scanned in and emailed to me. If you want a graphic designer, go somewhere else. If you want an awesome piece of custom artwork, including the most amazing one-of-a-kind tattoo experience, then you’ve got to get in touch with Thomas.
Logo Graphic Design:
If you need a logo designer, I’m sure that Chris and the Arcane Palette crew could probably help you out, because you can’t have my guy!! My friend, Justin (I have no link for you. He doesn’t do freelance work anymore, he got himself a day job.) took the scanned image from Thomas and worked that bitch over until she submitted to his digital requirements. He helped me pick a font and did all the type-setting for my banner and logo and any other form where you see the pinup with text, including the shirt design… which was no small feat.
So, basically, almost everything was designed by someone else to my uncompromisingly picky standards. The only real hand I had in it was that I knew what I wanted. The fact that someone else has the talent to take what I want out of my brain and make it into a visual in front of me is continually valuable and amazing to me and I am endlessly grateful to the people mentioned above. How else would I focus all of my energy on writing about boobies?
