Tuesday 11 August 2015

Always look on the bright side of life... (and give-aways)

(...Says the guy who adds a header full of hung corpses and pillaging skellies)

Some of you might have seen that this place has slightly changed its look and those who have are right.

For a time it sort of annoyed me to have a header composed of a stolen picture from the net, poorly cropped to fix my lack of talent and ideas to have anything else instead.

There's a point where one has to make the right call and ask to those possess those talent and ideas and it's why I asked Zhu to make me a header for this blog.


It's far much better than the older one isn't it ?



I can only say that Zhu's design exceeded my expectations and that he managed to both get the very blurry ideas I had given him and his own touch to form that excellent result. Just have a look at the little details here and there, it's those kind of things that make illustrations evocative for me. It's the kind of details that do not make you think "ok, it's that way" but which make you think "wow, what's behind that ? and why's this?", the kind of details that ignite imagination...

Check out Zhu's post on this piece of artwork HERE.



While I was at it, I decided to skip all the fancy stuff on the side to just leave things black which will make the page far easier to load (there's already plenty to display with those pictures and all).

Why am I taking the time to speak about all this ? Well, I'm the first to think that blogging about blogging is one of the lamest forms of internet onanism but this blog actually means quite a lot to me now as it's enabled me to share with many excellent people and broaden my horizon hobby wise and even more. 
Real life has struck quite a few time over the past year which has somehow affected my painting and general blogging but as hobbying and sharing have remained great sources of joy and comfort to me I thought I'd seize the opportunity to start afresh. that's why I thought this was as good a time as any to give this place a new look.

I've said it before, I do not aknowledge much value to the number of views Google credits me of as most of those come from Google itself or from Bing, yahoo, microsoft, whatever...
What I do care about is the people pressing the button to follow this blog and especially those who do take the time to leave some feedback.

Since this blog is at the verge of reaching the symbolic milestone of 200 followers, I thought I'd make a new little event with a give-away like last time as I enjoyed it and I think some of you dear readers did too !
I have no idea when we'll reach that point but I'll get ready to make things as fun as I can and in the meantime I'll get back to my usual flow of hobby non-sense and cryptic ideas.

Memento mori people.


27 comments:

  1. True words mate.
    I regret not being able to be as active (hobby and internet wise) as I have been previously and as a result being a bit out of the loop.
    "Life sucks, but in a beautiful way" - Axl Rose

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think life sucks, I just suck at it but I'm working on it !
      I'm full of energy I want to put to good use ;)

      Delete
  2. That's a great header - crisp, evocative, suitably old school.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the new look, but you know that already. ;)

    I have to agree with you on people pressing that follow button. It's always good to see that number grow.

    Now how many blog header commission's is Zhu going to have over the next couple weeks? LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers !
      Someone taking the time to press "follow" means a bit more to me than getting views because you placed the right keywords that trigger bots... but that's another problem ;)
      I didn't think about the precedent it would create ... ^^'

      Delete
  4. Keep up the good work JB. I always enjoy your output, and the new decor suits the blog very well. I particularly like the flock of wraithships swooping behind the trees. Zhu's done you proud there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The eldar Space fleet ship are a nice touch indeed, as the hanging servoskulls, the kendo sword and...
      Thanks for the kind words.

      Delete
  5. I do love the new aspect of the blog! The header is a true piece of art! I've been thinking about changing mine for about more than a year or so, but yours is a true kicker, I think it works perfectly!
    Keep on the good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice of you to say so ;)
      I'm back behind the desk now and I intend to make this time count !

      Delete
  6. I'm digging the header for loads of reasons. It's a good idea to shake things up a bot from time to time.

    I look forward to your posts, keep 'em coming!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fresh start, new horizons ! Now it's time tu pull sleeves up and get some models done !

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. Thanks a lot, glad the more sober and elegant look suits people !

      Delete
  8. Love the new header. Was going to ask about it, but got distracted by all the shiny game playing picture you posted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AHAHA ! that was the intent from the start ! .... not.

      Delete
  9. Such an evocative image, it looks absolutely great. And it's inspired me to start designing my own banner, as you say it's better than using someone else's art.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well I am using someone else's art but at least I'm not stealing it ^^

      Thanks a lot Stuart ;)

      Delete
    2. So how mad are you gonna be when everyone else has Zhu blog banners. LOL

      Delete
  10. Love your blog, congrats on the upgrade. +Zhu's artwork is simply stunning. I knew he was talented, but didn't realize just how so! I hope he has some work-in-progress pics, I'd love to know how he did it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tend to avoid asking magicians about their tricks in general ;)

      Cheers !

      Delete
  11. Oh look, it's up there! I'm really pleased how it turned out, and that you find it worthy of putting up as a signpost to all the great things that you fill this here blog with. Thank you (and the other commentators) for the kind words.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well it's at the top of the blog so I think it will lift the quality of evrything below up (at least I'll make sure it does).
      Thanks again !

      Delete
  12. Loving the new banner! Good call on the change.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers, nothing like starting from an (almost) blank page ;)

      Delete
  13. Looks good dude. Real life does get in the way sometimes. I find it good to have a change around ever so often freshen the place up nicely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, change is the prerequisite for making things better I suppose !

      Thanks mate !

      Delete

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