You Should Get This Shirt...A Skeletal Gadget Original!

My son's an artist--a digital artist, a self-taught artist. He's designed calendars, t-shirts, Christmas cards, and numerous other things. He also creates YouTube videos, videos that have been seen millions of times. It's an amazing accomplishment that a single individual can deliver a message to literally the entire planet.

I'm sure my father would be blown away had he lived long enough to see our times.

The latest creation is a ying/yang sort of picture with a skeletal gadget character acting as master creator, a being in control of the elements as he conjures fire and ice and makes them dance. Personally, I love it! He produced the picture, then threw it into the digital universe. And as things happen, he received a positive response, so he decided to utilize the website, Designed by Hümans to spread the love through art.

Check out this Twitter Testimonial!

And today the shirt our oldest ordered arrive! I'm jealous--I've got to get one of my own.

If you'd like to order one of these classics, click: HERE for the link on Designed by Hümans. He also has designs available on Red Bubble. You can access that website by clicking: HERE. Order this shirt--the design is guaranteed to get looks and comments, and good ones, at that!

Voting For Art...I Don't Quite Understand

I'm getting older, but I'm not too old that I don't remember being a teenager, looking at my mom, and wondering if she and I lived in the same world.

Don't get me wrong--my mother was not clueless, far from it. She was sharp and competent and wise. But sometimes, when my friends and I would talk to her about things that interested us, she just had that look, a look of not quite understanding it all. And now, I know how she feels.

My son is a digital artist. For the past several years he's been making a name for himself in the world of social media. He's produced videos that have been seen hundreds of thousands of times. He's created art that--because of the internet--anyone from anywhere across the globe can order and display. He's still a teenagers, albeit in his last teenage year. It's getting to be a somewhat regular occurrence that he'll tell us of another milestone, another sale, another pinnacle reached.

Like last week, when he told us one of his original works of art is up on a website to be voted on. I checked out the site. I'm sure I had the same look my mom used to have. But I'm smart enough to know that there's an entire fandom out there who, when they see this picture, will think it's really cool. I do, and I don't understand most of it. I've checked out his other artwork and the response he gets from those "in the know" is very positive.

If you'd like to check out the voting site, click: HERE. Maybe you're one who, when they see the picture, know more about it, the character, and everything else. I admit, I just don't, even though I do try and keep up on what all the kids are into these days--there's just so much of it and I've got things to do...like work and sleep.

Yes, I believe having the look of confusion when speaking with your children has arrived for me, as it did with my mother, and will no doubt, happen to my children when their time comes. And on that day, I wonder if the will remember the look I sometimes give them now. Time will tell.

If You're Looking For A 2018 Calendar...Check Out This Local Artist's!

Even though we have calendars on our phones, computers, even our watches, there's something to be said for having a printed, good old-fashioned, hold-in-your-hands-and-hang-on-the-wall calendar. And if you're in the market for a completely new artistic calendar, I recommend this one.

It's by Skeletal Gadget.

It's full of Homestuck characters.

Perhaps you (like me...) are not familiar with Homestuck, it's a webcomic, quite a large one at that. Here's an example of both the characters and the artwork.

I am a BIG fan of Skeletal Gadget. He's created a style that's uniquely his own. His YouTube videos have been played hundreds of thousands of times, and his name is known among video game players across the world.

And if you (like me...) want to order the first of hopefully many yearly calendars to come, click: HERE and go to his Red Bubble website. And while you're there, check out his other artwork. It's very good. 

Come on! Get a calendar! To quote Edward Johnson, "Clark (and, by extension, all of us...), that's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year."

Wanna Buy A Great T-Shirt...?

If you're in the market for a very cool t-shirt with an awesome picture of Niko and the Sun, have I got the shirt for you!

It's not a question, but a statement. Yes, I DO have the shirt for you! And you can get this distinguished work of art at Redbubble.com. Click: HERE to reach the website of this t-shirt and links to all the other items available at Redbubble.

Full disclosure--I am a tad biased. The artwork was designed by my son and he set up an account with Redbubble. Today he got his very first sale. I remember when I was his age and we were full of amazing ideas, wonderful plans that could change the world. Back then (as now...) there were processes to make those dreams a reality, but a lot of them required the help of others. Financial, distribution systems, I'm sure it was very complicated.

But imagine the world of today. You design something either on paper, canvas, whatever, then download the image to a website and it's available for the entire world to see. It's mind-boggling to consider the possibilities. I wonder what kinds of things our generation could have presented to the world had we only the tools computer-savvy youngsters have now.

Probably, the same kinds of things we're seeing from talented artists all the time.

Livecasting...Yeah, It's A Thing

If you had asked me a year ago what "livecasting" was, I wouldn't have had any idea. But my son has dabbled in it lately. There's a website called Twitch that has hundreds of these livecasts. If you go to Twitch you'll see people have set up accounts where you can go and watch someone play a video game and join a discussion as they play. My son has one of these accounts. I think he's done a great job branding himself and doing all the work that's required to get up and running.

We did the same thing when I was a kid--sort of, except for logging on to a computer and joining a discussion group, my friends and I would crowd around an Asteroid machine or a Pac Man game or Space Invaders or Joust, and we would watch as our friends played and comment on how well (or how poorly...) they played.

Such was livecasting in our day.

Things have changed. Now a person can set up an account, get followers and have a great time learning something new and hanging out. Yes, things have come a long way since we would line up our quarters on the Asteroid machine at the Farmington AG market. Now we can play video games and the entire world can check it out.