In this episode of the Polytechnicast I share an overview of why I moved my comic to Google App Engine and how things evolved to considering moving away from that platform. I’m leaning toward moving to S3 or GitHub, using a static generated blog styled as a web comic approach. Then again, Tumblr is a pretty tempting option!

Along the way I give an overview of why I chose a cloud computing platform, my initial move from Wordpress and shared hosting.

I haven’t made my final choice, feel free to tweet, email, or comment your recommendations!

Links Mentioned and Related Links

• Art Geek Zoo Comics (currently on Google App Engine)
• Cloud Computing
• Google App Engine
• Comicaster
• Cpedialog
• Approcket
• Web Comic Alliance
• Site Fight Site
• Wordpress
• Comicpress
• Tumblr comic hosting example, Jerzy Drozd’s The Front
• Considering Amazon S3
• Considering GitHub Pages
• Considering Jekyll
• Considering Octopress

Follow Rob on Twitter or his blog at Interactive-Storyteller.com and workshops at Lean Into Art

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Posted via email from Art Geek Zoo Polytechnicast

In this episode of the Polytechnicast I share thoughts on seeking a job doing what I love, serving a community I care about, using tools and methods I believe in, to engage in a fair and sustainable trade.

Along the way I share observations on the process of job/contract hunting and some of the tools I find helpful.

Links Mentioned

• Comic - Independent Voice (the first place I published my “do what I love mantra”)
• My Illustration Portfolio
• My Interactive/UI/UX/Game Design Portfolio
• Prezi - a good tool to rapidly create interesting looking portfolios for online and print.
• Prezi Portfolio of Sample Work Products (available on request)
• Rob’s Video Application to Lullabot on Vimeo
• Search tools:
  • Combine Google with Glassdoor
  • Break out of your search bubble via Duck Duck Go
• Tools I use to manage reusable email sections and templates:
  • NvALT
  • TextExpander

Follow Rob on Twitter or his blog at Interactive-Storyteller.com and workshops at Lean Into Art

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Posted via email from Art Geek Zoo Polytechnicast

In this episode of the Polytechnicast I have “preparing” on the mind. Working on a few projects simultaneously I find myself in the cycle of preparing, making, and finding useful connections between my projects quite often.

In addition to “preparing”, this episode is also a bit of Topic Potpourri! 

Links Mentioned and Links That Came to Mind While Writing These Show Notes

• Oxford Notecard Pocket
• Notecards
• Hipster PDA
• Moleskine Plain Reporter
• Web Comic Alliance
• Ira Glass on the Creative Process
• Ann Arbor District Library Comic Artist Forum
• Mac Power Users Podcast - Automating
• Sikuli - open source/free deskop automation via screen capture
• Rube Goldberg

Follow Rob on Twitter or his blog at Interactive-Storyteller.com and workshops at Lean Into Art

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Posted via email from Art Geek Zoo Polytechnicast

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Filling in the gaps. Bobby McFerrin didn’t ask everyone to guess a sound - he started a pattern with one sound, then another, and another. The relationship between those sounds is design (the Pentatonic Scale), the audience participating to fill in the gaps demonstrates the Closure principle of perception. 

I came across this video while preparing for a special series of the Lean Into Art Cast centered on the topic of Design. Andy Rutlege’s blog is a fantastic resource on Design. A great place to start exploring his writing is his 5 part Gestalt Principles of Perception series.

Worth noting: both Uniform Connectedness/Good Continuation and Closure have extra strong ties to the underlying mechanisms of comics as a highly participatory form of communication.

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In this episode of the Polytechnicast, I delve into some behind the scenes planning and development I do to support Guitar Fretter.

Recently I received an email from an Android user who is rather good at the game. On her Android device once she gets past level 12 or so the game has problems. I share details on how I’ll tackle that issue, ponder the complexities of the Android market, future updates for Guitar Fretter and behind the scenes thoughts on Guitar Fretter’s game design.

Links Mentioned and Links That Came to Mind While Writing These Show Notes

• Guitar Fretter
• Corona SDK - the tool I used to build Guitar Fretter
• Interview of Rob Stenzinger for the Ansca (maker of the Corona SDK) Blog
• Guitar Fretter - iTunes App Store
• Guitar Fretter - Android Market
• Guitar Fretter - Amazon Appstore

Follow Rob on Twitter or his blog at Interactive-Storyteller.com

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Posted via email from Art Geek Zoo Polytechnicast