The Insomniac Designer - Life, Logos, and Lunesta!

The Importance of Equipment Testing

2011-01-17T21:39:00.001-08:00

Click to see full-sized

Drop whatever you're doing and watch this right now.

2011-01-10T16:37:00.001-08:00

You stay classy, Mr. Mercury.

2010-07-30T13:02:00.000-07:00

Oh Freddy Mercury; We barely knew ye.

So, I just got a glimpse of my upcoming work schedule...

2010-07-28T18:01:00.001-07:00

I'm moving up from teaching two classes...

TO TEACHING FIVE OF THEM.

GWAHHHH

Some Fantasy Artwork

2010-07-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Smeagol92055, the Insomniac Designer's villainous twin here, to give you guys some fantasy art I made a while back.

These two are Leebs and Laytre, respectively. Leebs is the guardian figure and Laytre is the evil, scheming, undead cleric.

They've got sort of a Ben Sisko/ Gul Dukat relationship going on.

Vacation

2010-07-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

I'll be in Laguna Beach this weekend with Mrs. Insomniac Designer, so don't call me unless it's an emergency.

Emergency:

Pronunciation: \i-ˈmər-jənt-sē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural emer·gen·cies

Usage: often attributive

Date: circa 1631
1 : an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action.

2 : What will happen to you if you call The Insomniac Designer on his Laguna Beach weekend getaway with Mrs. Insomniac Designer.

DIS MAH CLASSROOM

2010-05-20T17:10:00.001-07:00

Wat it do
wat
wat

2010-05-19T13:20:00.001-07:00

So this pretty much sums up my work ethic.

Work from Michael Rianda on Vimeo.

So THAT's happening.

2010-05-17T15:41:00.001-07:00

So I'm graduating with my bachelor's degree on Saturday.

On Monday I start teaching.
Last week, the head of the graphics design program at Coleman University's San Marcos satellite offered me a teaching position at the school.

Heck yeah! Livin' the dream, suckers!
Livin' the dream!

Trongirl

2010-04-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

Tron is one of those classic films that you either like or hate.
I saw it for the first time when I was a kid and it blew my mind.
I rented it again recently to see if my memories of the film would hold up. While dated, the film still impresses me with its effects, and it evidently stuck in the minds of enough people that a modern-era sequel is soon to be released.

Trongirl by ~smeagol92055 on deviant ART
The main challenge with this piece was the bodysuit; normally the bodysuits in the Tron universe are light gray, but I wanted the bodysuit in my piece to be black; of course, when placed against the already dark backgrounds of the computer world, this presented the problem of losing the fine contours against all that darkness. It took me several hours to sketch in the glowing lines of her suit in Illustrator and then composite it all together in Photoshop. Believe it or not, her suit, her face, her helmet, and numerous sections of the glowing parts of her suit are all on separate layers so as to avoid bleedover from the light effects.

The stock pieces used in this are [link] by Senshi-stock and [link] by ChaosEmeraldHunter on Deviantart.com

Rococo Robo FINAL

2010-04-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

Rococo's come a long way since I first doodled him.
Finally here at last, here is the final product.

Enjoy!

Logo Design

2010-04-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

Logo Design.
Everyone needs a good logo; a good logo is simple and elegant, setting the visual tone of what's to come without explicitly stating or overthinking or getting cluttered with too much information.

Why, then, is a good logo SO HARD TO DESIGN.

You ponder on that a while, people. I'm gonna go drink some more caffeine and try to massage the cramp out of my logo-making hand.

Freakin' Rebels and their freakin' lasers...

2010-04-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Do you see what happens when you start a Rebel Alliance?
The Droids get caught in the middle.

THINK OF THE DROOOOOOOOOIDS

From the archives...

2010-04-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

So I think it goes without saying that I'm a bit of a geek. I wear it proudly and I do a lot of projects for the sheer hell of it that speak to that geeky side of me.

I've done D&D pieces, fantasy and sci-fi pieces, even a few abstract things that I'd be proud to put up in Phillip Dick's living room and watch him get high on a kite looking at.

...But about a year and a half ago, I made a tribute to the ULTIMATE Starship captain.
He's brave; he's bold; he's balding: ladies and gentlemen, I give you Captain Jean Luc Picard!

Flash CS4, you are DEAD TO ME

2010-04-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Seriously, what the hell, Flash CS4. I don't ask too much of you. All I ask of you is that you MAKE SENSE and do what I tell you to do.
I tell you to make a spaceship zoom across the screen and then dock at a space station, and then website navigation buttons to flicker on.

Like in this image.

That isn't hard. I don't know, am I asking so very much from you?
Instead, you give me THIS hot mess, which is very conspicuously MISSING MY GORRAM BUTTONS

WHERE ARE MY BUTTONS YOU DIRTY COMMUNIST

Seriously, anyone have any suggestions? Y'know, besides tracking down the coders that made Flash CS4 and doing unspeakable things to their cats?

Why Second Life is awesome.

2010-04-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

So, Second Life is awesome. Did you know that you can sell your artwork there? True story.

Yes; that is a robot studying my Rococo Robo painting available for purchase RIGHT NOW. (By the way, the irony of a robot looking to buy my robot painting is delicious.)

Of things Dungeons (and only slightly Dragonish)

2010-04-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

HOLY CRAP DO YOU SEE THIS THING
THIS IS A WARFORGED
SHUT UP YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW
THIS GUY WAS CREATED IN THE CREATION FORGE OF MERRIX D'CANNITH FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF CAVING YOUR SKULL IN

and he likes puppies.

Of Things Harris

2010-04-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

NPH, how do I love thee?

Nice Desktop size for ya.

The Island of Sexy Angels, part 2?

2010-04-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog post. You're probably looking at it in confusion like, "Wait, what is this Island and how can I get there?"
Well, you can't, Jack. The Island of Sexy Angels is a nigh-untraceably obscure reference to a short Hellboy comic. How ya like dem apples, buddy?

Speaking of Hellboy, here. Don't say Uncle Insomniac never gave ya nothin'.

WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE

2010-04-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hey. Hey you on the couch. How much more awesome than you is this robot playing a laser violin?
I'm sorry, your primitive fleshpod brain can't even comprehend the mathematics necessary to measure that.

This robot is totally going to go do some Victorian-era controlled substances off of Marie Antoinette's hindquarters later.

Hot Mockups and Hospital Visits.

2010-04-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, the mockup is a bit beat up.

It just killed a dragon with its BARE DAMN HANDS.

So a few months back I was working on a mockup for a Dungeons & Dragons "Campaign Chest"
The Campaign Chest was supposed to look like one of the core rulebooks from the D&D series.
Essentially, it was a box shaped like a book, that opened like a book, that could hold a few character sheets, some dice, maybe even a miniature or two.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance to design something like this, since I am after all a huge geek and am in possession of a level 7 Halfling Bererker. (Seriously, you ever been gutted by a two-and-a-half foot tall barbarian? I don't recommend it.)

The first thing to do, naturally, was to procure a box of proportionate size to one of the D&D rulebooks. That was easier said than done, as my budget was

A.) nonexistent,
B.) see A.

Luckily, fate smiled on me! I received a box of PERFECT dimensions just a few days later!
...Unfortunately, said box contained complimentary tickets to "Sean Hannity's Freedom Concert '09" in it. (Seriously, when I opened the box, Rush Limbaugh jumped out of it and the Blue Angels did a flyover of my apartment.)
Now, I was expected to attend the concert, so against my better judgement I went.

...My mother once told me if you can't find anything nice to say, don't say anything at all, so that's all I have to say about Mr. Hannity and his concert.

Anywho, THE BOX! I had the box! I immediately began stripping it down to its core, even going so far as to sand the thing to get it nice and smooth, the perfect canvas for my insane machinations.

I spent a lot of time hunting down the perfect graphics to go on it, and eventually came up with a great book-like feel for it that really echoed the D&D brand. (By the way, whenever the word "Brand" "Branding" or any other hundreds of permutations on that word appear in this blog, you have to take a shot. It's in the bylaws.)

The only thing left to do was to get some balsa foam (truly wondrous stuff) to carve out custom interior packaging to hold the dice and the miniatures. I spent several hours painstakingly shaving minute flecks of foam off of the board to get the perfect cast for the dice and figures, and finally had to switch out my blade for a newer one.

...And then I went to the hospital, because my brand-new blade slipped on the foam, cut the entire sheet in half, and sliced the tip of my finger nearly to the bone!
Yeah, so that didn't go off so well. I lost about four hours of work on that stupid foam (stupid balsa foam. Who came up with such a stupid, stupid idea?) and ended up having to go to print without the insert.

I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. YOU COST ME $7.95 IN BALSA FOAM.

In a completely unrelated note, I have a totally badass scar on my finger now. (Well, it's badass if you squint and play some Iron Maiden in the background.)

And now a word from our sponsor.

2010-04-15T07:42:00.001-07:00

GO BUY OLD SPICE BODY WASH. NOW.

NO, I DO NOT CARE THAT YOU ARE A WOMAN. BE SILENT AND BUY OLD SPICE.

Oh yeah.

2010-04-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

Who just did an analysis of Oedipus in the modern arena using Star Wars as an analogy?

You damn straight, hippy.

HELLBOY & NOAH BENNETT F#@$ YEAH

2010-04-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hey.

Hey you.
Yeah, you, right there. The one looking around like "I'm the only one sitting in front of this computer."
You.

Hellboy and Noah Bennett.
Shut up and EAT YOUR AWESOME

Welcome to the Insomniac Designer!

2010-04-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Jason Gormally and I'll be your host tonight.
What is this strange and wonderful place, you ask?
This is The Insomniac Designer, my little space in the cosmos to rant, rave, and post my artwork (usually designed at ungodly hours of the night, natch.)
First up is a piece I submitted yesterday to Deviantart for a community called "Design a Character." The theme changes from week to week, but the basic idea is the community gives you a subject, and you design original artwork based around said theme. Simple enough.
This week's theme was "Portraits in profile of teenagers, at least five."
Here's the finished piece! Enjoy!