My old theme was getting a bit complicated to control, so I’ve changed to a new and very simple black and white look.
Maybe, in this colour crazy digital world, black and white is what you need to stand out?
Here it is, the introduction video for the Axel Storm Website. Hope you like it!
I have been humming an haa-hing about the Axel Storm website and how I’m going to do it.
You know I’ve been doing my website for thirteen years now and I find it hard to get myself excited about finding artwork and scanning it and treating it in photoshop and laying it out for a webpage. I’ve been there and done it so many times now. It’s been quite hard to summon up the energy to plan the site and work out what should be in it, especially as I now have my schedule organised with my editor for the next project – next project?! Don’t I get a moment to draw breath?
Then I had a brilliant idea. Why don’t I do a video website? That’s much more fun to do and I hope a lot more fun to engage with that a load of static or animated illustrations on a webpage. So that’s what I’m going to do.
Starting right…now!
At last year’s Christmas party, my publishers implored us to start blogging and tweeting and doing whatever we could on the internet. Well I’ve been doing that for the last thirteen years!
I decided that I would try and blog everyday so that I could show what a waste of time it was. If I spent a whole year working away at it, and nothing came of it, then I could prove it was pointless.
This morning, having won yet another minor victory in the endless learning curve that is the Joomla Content Management System, I had that, “Is it really all worth the hassle?” feeling again. I’m thinking of putting all my old experiments in online ebooks back on my site, but I thought I’d make them available only to registered users. Eventually, I might think about charging for them. So I opened up my registration window to the world and immediately received a spam registration, which makes me think it’s insecure and that I should give up the idea as not worth the hassle.
But a little research finds the information I need. More to learn and implement. Maybe I should employ someone to do this? Actually I’m enjoying it. I’m building up an incredible knowledge and confidence in my abilities as a webmaster.
I was listening to the wonderful Bob Proctor this morning. He was going on about persistence as usual. Well, I’m nothing if not persistent, but why is this website thing such a struggle? Then he said something so simple – so obvious, it’s the kind of thing that goes in one ear and straight out the other, but today I heard it.
If I am trying to prove that all my effort is a waste of time, then that’s the outcome I deserve! Duh! Isn’t that really, really obvious?
So, from today, I’m changing my mindset. All the effort I’ll put into my website will be to prove my publishers right – that blogging and tweeting, YouTubing and shoo-tubeing is all really, really worth it. Watch this space!
I’ve recently changed the look of my website, to make the front page my permanent blog. Eighteen months ago or so, I was badly hacked and moved my blog to wordpress.com, where they look after it very nicely. But there are limitations to keeping a blog there and I want to do more with my blog.
So I’m now running wordpress on my own site as the front page. This lets me do lots of new things and as it is easier to update, it should be easier to keep more secure. Actually I think the hackers got in through the software my old internet service provider used – It’s taken a while to move my website and everything that goes with it to a new provider that I feel much happier with.
Over the weekend, I’ve moved the buttons, that access the rest of the site, from the side to the top and have put the old familiar music back again, (making it fade quite quickly!)
I really could do with feedback. If you love it or hate it, please say so in the comments. I’ll look forward to reading what you think.
Phew! I’m shattered! I found I had a day and half free in my schedule as I’d not been sent artwork layouts for the weekend, so I’ve really gone for the new website change over in a big way. This blog will now become more of a drawing blog and my homepage, www.shoorayner.com, will become my main blog, so I suppose I’ll have to change my feed to Facebook etc.
I reckon that a blog is the way to go for a home page. I’ve hummed and ha-ed about it for years, but I’ve finally made the decision. I’ve been developing it on a local server for weeks. Transferring to a web server is a bit of a nightmare, I’ve been going through the database hand-coding bits that got missed and I think it’s all working now.
Have a look and why not sign up for my newsletter? You’ll be in the monthly draw to win a signed copy of one of my books. While you’re at it, why not subscribe to my youtube drawing school for another chance?
Feedback welcomed!
Click the picture to play the video
[hdplay id=2 ]
I’m frying my brains, but there’s a new, fresh, exciting website coming along. I’ve decided to build the main part around a blog. I’m not sure if I’ll keep this one going as a copy or not. This does get extra feed from the WordPress community.
Then I’m expanding my shoo-tube side to cover most everything else, as I’m finding it a bit difficult to keep up with things the way I’m doing it now.
I know, you can’t wait! but you’ll just have to hang on a bit longer.
