Spring Safety Poster: Flying Objects Are Closer Than They Appear!

I created this poster for the City of Houston Public Works & Engineering Department. It is publicly displayed in the Bob Lanier Public Works building.

My mission was to create a safety poster covering four issues which are being discussed with PWE employees in their safety training. I looked at many different types of art design and decided to base this poster on World War II propaganda posters. I enjoy that style and felt it would make a strong impact. After looking at all of the messages I needed to include, I decided the visual theme would be "flying objects."

The poster was created in Adobe Illustrator CS4. I hand drew the backgrounds and used brushes, symbols, and customized clip art for other elements.

Since this poster was time-specific regarding the upcoming time change, I wasn't able to implement my 3D concept. I considered adding actual depth by cutting out the pop-out objects and putting some cardboard behind them.

This poster is property of the City of Houston.

Ddrama the Llama's First Video!

Ion Canon by Demonic Otter Toe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

This is the first in the Ion Canon animation series. It features Ddrama the Llama, a cud-chewing camel cousin with more than a few issues. Ddrama will appear in upcoming animations, as well as other animal and human characters.

I looked at several photos and videos of llamas to get a sense of what they look like and how they walk. I then drew the characters in Adobe Illustrator. I used a clipart bird from Microsoft, which I customized and created a "dead" version.

The background image is a photo composite with multiple layers and applied filters created in Adobe Photoshop. The original image is of a field and trees in the Texas Hill Country.

I took the characters and background image into Adobe After Effects, animated them, and added video clips from my stock video library. I could have imported the AE files directly into Premiere, but to save Premiere rendering time, I exported the animations as AVI files in AE.

I used Adobe Premiere to edit the animation clips and add audio. I used Adobe Soundbooth for the music bed. The birdsong and nature sounds were recorded this past weekend in a Minneapolis suburban park. I created the Foley FX in my studio.

(NOTE: I just noticed one of Ddrama's legs is missing. It is actually there, but was masked out in AE when I was trying to solve a particular animation issue.)




Ion Canon is produced by Demonic Otter Toe, the animated digit of Totem Media, L.C. All characters, media, and designs are Copyright 2009 Totem Media, L.C. except where previous copyrights have been established. All Rights Reserved.

Happy Earth Day!

Totem Media, L.C. wishes everyone a safe, happy, and environmentally friendly Earth Day 2009!

I created this image using Adobe Photoshop CS3. The floral border is from All My Yesterdays (mentioned in my March 27 post) and a stock photo from istockphoto.com. I wanted to create a richly-colored, deeply-textured, nature-inspired image, with hints of Art Nouveau.

Our planet is a beautiful place. I'm trying to do my part in keeping it that way.

Social Media Networking? Pour Me a Drink!

I created this image using Adobe Illustrator CS3. The drink was traced from a photo I already had (and have permission to use as a source). I had created the hand previously for a logo (still in concept phase) for a local sporting group, and have adapted it for this image. The stylized edging came from a great ancient images CD collection called "All Our Yesterdays - Patterns & Motifs, Vol. 9, Library 1."

My goal was to create an art-deco inspired image and I feel I accomplished my goal through style, color, and imagery. The hand is more contemporary, but it does have an art deco "flow" which I think works.

As you may note, I haven't blogged much lately. I have been busy with client projects, attending part of SXSW, and utilizing two other social media tools, Twitter and Facebook. You can see my "Tweets" (Twitter posts) at the top of this blog, so in a way, I have been updating this blog.

I use Twitter to post updates about my work and interact with others on Twitter whom I know or like. Instead of "friending" someone, you "follow" them. Then you can see their Tweets on your Twitter account or receive them as a text on your mobile phone. If they want, they can "follow" you and see your Tweets. I like Twitter because there isn't such a demand to "be friends with me!" and the posts are limited to 140 characters/spaces. Brevity is our friend! Also, I am very selective on which high-volume Tweeple (Twitter people) I follow. I don't want to have to sort through hundreds of Tweets and maybe miss the one Tweet from a friend I really wanted to see.

I use Facebook to keep in touch with friends and family - to share my personal side with those I know and care about. A neat feature I use is having my Tweets appear as my Facebook status. Facebook can be "addictive" if you let it. I don't attach applications and I limit the groups to which I belong. I don't go there to make friends. It is more important to keep up with those I have.

There are a few other networking sites I have joined, but I don't use them much. I think trying to keep updated and interactive on many different sites is a waste of time better put to taking care of my business and family.

So, in terms of social media networking and business, having a blog, joining a message board, posting on a mailing list, Twittering, joining Facebook, MySpace, etc. can help you connect with clients, vendors, and industry people, but it is important to draw some kind of line between personal and professional. It depends upon whether you want your clients to know what you're like at home. For some people, it's better to keep that quiet, especially if one lives in a manner at odds with your professional appearance.

Also, more and more employers are checking out potential employees' social media sites, so either keep your private and professional identites separate, or keep everything consistent and "clean" (no porn, excessive swearing, or violence). Some people disagree with this practice, but employers (and good employees) want to hire someone who will fit in well in their company.

I decided several years ago that I would try to be positive in my online communications. It goes with my overall philosophy of being positive leads to success and helps you connect with other positive, successful people. Also, it goes with my belief in being honest and helpful. So, I don't worry about family, friends, or clients coming across this blog, my Twitter page, Facebook, or some of the boards and lists where I post. They may not be interested in my favorite show episode reviews, but I probably won't scare them off! LOL!

Add the Fresh Scent of Pine to Your Desktop!

On a foggy cool Christmas Eve, I took photos of scenery and plants in the Texas Hill Country. A close up of pine tree branches was the source and inspiration for this month's desktop calendar. Using Adobe Photoshop CS3, I retained only the needles, with some of the detail and edges removed. I added a textured light yellow background and the calendar grid. I liked the simplicity of this design, so I didn't add any more images.

Click here for a 1024 x 768 version you can use on your computer. Please do not remove the copyright notice.

Multimedia Company Exposed on Virtual TV

We recently updated Totem Media's website portfolio. We are displaying many of our logos and photo composites in Flash galleries. Also, we have links to live client websites.

All of these wonderful images and links are available through our virtual Totem TV. Go to www.totem-media.com. Click on the "Portfolio" button on the main menu remote. Using your mouse, scroll through the onscreen menu. Whenever you want to return to the Totem TV portfolio list, click on the "Portfolio" button on the main menu remote.

This Bird Can be Such a Card!

This photo was taken on a Panasonic PV-GS320 digital video camera. Although still images taken by this camera are not as sharp as ones shot on a dedicated still camera, its images can be manipulated to produce lovely photos like this. (It is not a still frame from video. The camera captures still images on an SD card.)

This photo was enhanced using Adobe Photoshop CS3. I created several layers, manipulated each layer with different effects, and combined the layers for the full effect shown above.

The texture effect applied to the image doesn't appear to show up as well in this smaller version of the photo. The original Photoshop file dimensions are about twice as big as the full-size version you can see by clicking on the picture above. If I enlarged and darkened the texture effect on the original file, it would be too much for that version, but look fine for this smaller version.

This is the original photo. The only changes I made was cropping it to a 4:3 aspect ratio (the camera takes photos in a 16:9 aspect), and reducing the size to 640 x 480.

Demonic Otter Toe Starts World Domination Caper!

Flowing Fractals Fracture in Digital Media Explosion

There is no better way to celebrate Totem Media's Fifth Anniversary than with a catchy new video!



This video was created using Adobe AfterEffects, Soundbooth, and Premiere Pro, using self-produced images and videos, as well as stock video elements.

See the full-size Flash version on the Totem Media website!

Consumed in a Single Desire

I created this image from two photos, taken in September 2007. The background flames were from the first Air Canada Centre RUSH concert for the Snakes & Arrows tour. The photo of the woman (me) was taken at YYZ (Lester B. Pearson Airport in Toronto) after twelve days of travel, fun, three concerts, many late nights, beer, friendship, laryngitis, and a bad cold.

The title is from the RUSH song Mission. The entire stanza is

"Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire
Focused high on soaring ambitions
Consumed in a single desire"

It's one of my favorite RUSH songs and describes my dedication and focus on RushCon, the annual fan convention I have helped organize for eight years.

Sometimes when we work for a long time on important projects, we feel "consumed," as if we are giving everything we have, everything we are. As long as the price isn't too high (health, wealth, family, friendship, happiness), it is OK to feed an obsession to create something good and beautiful. For a creation to have quality and value, one has to put time, effort, often money, and a part of oneself into it.

The quality and value for this creation may not always be evident to others. Everyone has different "lenses," experiences that color how they view things. For some, a beautiful object created by someone else is an affront to their own (low) personal sense of value. They can't create and they hate themselves, so they try to destroy the beauty around them. For others, they set their standards so high no one can meet them. Their way of bolstering their flagging self-esteem is to judge everyone else "not quite good enough." Finally, there is just plain, ol' personal opinion. We all like different colors, flavors, textures, etc.

I hope others will like this piece, but if they don't, that's OK. I like it and feel good about what I created.

Using Adobe Photoshop CS3, I applied a watercolor/Art Nouveau treatment to my photo, removing fine detail and lightening the colors. I removed most of the original background (a staircase), but left enough to use for the "burned" areas. The burned areas were desaturated (removed color), added a stroke, then applied an artbrush to create a singed look. I placed a watercolor filter on the concert (flames) photo to abstract the image, but kept the saturation (color) almost full. Then I applied a canvas texture only to the concert portions.

Promark is a nationwide drumstick manufacturer based in Houston. The staff are great people and have generously donated to RushCon for several years.

The end of Mission is one of my mantras:

"We each pay a fabulous price, for our visions of paradise
But a spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission"

Pistil Shooting in Texas Caught on Tape!

"Flowers are rainbows on a sunny day." -- Elizabeth Maxwell



Video length: 1 minute 2 seconds. Larger Flash version available on totem-media.com.

I enjoy looking at flowers and other beautiful scenes of nature. It's relaxing and reminds me that God loves us. :)

The jasmine overgrew a tall dead stump in our yard. Eleven months of the year I don't notice the stump. It's either covered in the jasmine's green leaves or leafless and brown. Then, every April, the delicate white flowers open and release their wonderful scent.

It reminds me of the scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (movie) and The Two Towers (book), when Sam and Frodo are entering Mordor with Gollum. They see the head of an old king's statue, lying broken and defaced on the ground. The sun shone momentarily on a crown of flowers that had grown on the statue's brow. It gave them a moment of hope before facing the severe trials they would endure.

All video is from the Texas Hill Country, which is in the south central part of the state. I shot the jasmine and daisies in April 2008 using a Panasonic PV-GS320 mounted on a Velbon tripod. The bees were enjoying apple blossoms in February 2008 using a Sony DSC-W50 still/video digital camera. The two still shots of the purple vinca and the yellow cactus flower are from Spring 2007.

The song, Anjelica, is a royalty-free track purchased from shockwave-sound.com.

I edited the video using Adobe Premiere.

Pistil: Female part of the flower comprised of the ovary, style, and stigma.

RushCon 8 Facts in Fifty (seconds, that is)

I created this video using a "45 record" I created in Adobe Photoshop. (I learned the technique for making a record from the July/Aug 2004 issue of Photoshop User magazine.) The "record" is for the RUSH song, Far Cry, which is also the video's music bed.

The background images are from Artbeats. I edited the video and created the text in Adobe Premiere.

Here is the Far Cry record, with lighting effects and drop shadow.

The Self-Taught Takes a Class

In addition to reading industry publications and websites, I occasionally "attend" a webinar or take a class related to multimedia. I believe we can always be learning, if we choose to do so. If we aren't learning, then we cannot grow personally or professionally.

Technology stops for no one, and though I don't want or need to be on the bleeding/leading edge of every technological advance, keeping up-to-date is a professional imperative in the multimedia field. As I have updated my graphics and editing programs to the latest version from Adobe, I am taking a class on the photo-editing program, Photoshop. This will help me provide better graphics for my clients and save them money because I will take less time to complete their projects.

Totem Media, L.C. will provide the best work we can, using current technologies and programs, because we believe You Deserve to be Seen and Heard!

Latest Video Contest Entry - Technical Report

I've entered the following video in the Ultimate Stargate Atlantis Super Fan Contest.



I recorded my portions using a Panasonic AG-DVC60 and a Sony wired lavaliere microphone. I edited the video in Adobe Premiere and added some FX with Adobe AfterEffects.

I had been using a Matrox RTX.100 video card and software in conjunction with Premiere, but had a software crash that caused me to have to reload Premiere, thereby losing the Matrox plug-ins. (There's a technical reason why I didn't reload the Matrox software.) I missed some of the transitions, color correction, and keying features of Matrox, but not enough to deal with reloading the software.

Currently, I'm using Premiere Pro 1.5, and I find the transitions lacking in scope and customizing. I purchased Pixelan's SpiceMaster, which has many of the transitions and effects I need, at the very reasonable price of $40 (plus $20 to get the extra transitions).

After the holidays, I'll be upgrading to Adobe CS3 Production Premium suite. This will help me provide even better quality products for my clients and myself.

NOTE: As I said before, I was happy with the features offered by the Matrox RTX.100 card, when combined with Adobe Premiere, but by not reloading the Matrox software, I had a significant reduction in software crashes. I would say at least a 75% reduction.

Wurst Fest 2007

A group of us went to WurstFest, a ten-day celebration of sausage (and all that goes with it) in early November. Wurst Fest is in the pretty small town of New Braunfels, TX. The gang we went with, as well as other friends we met at the festival, are all fans and friends of Saint Arnold Brewing.

We had a great time, listening to polka and German folk music, eating ham hocks, sauerkraut, and German potato salad, and drinking Warsteiner dark beer.

We drove our Jeep, with the top down and the doors off. I was at first a little nervous, despite I was wearing my seatbelt and holding onto the support bar, but it was fine. Driving home that evening was cold, though, because the air temps varied between 58 - 65. We had the heater on full-blast, which helped a little bit. It felt at least a little adventurous. :)

I filmed the video handheld with a Panasonic PV-GS320 mini-DV recorder and edited it in Adobe Premiere.



A slightly larger and brighter version of this video is on my personal YouTube channel.

Video Quick Fixes

I created this video from footage I shot in mid-October in Denver, Colorado. I used a Panasonic PV-GS320 and recorded the video in 16:9 widescreen. I edited the video using Adobe Premiere and made the Quicktime file with Adobe AfterEffects.



This video is as an educational tool, but it is also a calm, quiet pause during a hectic day.