ChasingLilly.net

Still workin’ on it. Thought you all could use an update. It seems weird, even for me, to get on my site supposedly devoted to the Hunger Games series and see [honey] bunches o’ LOST pictures. I get it, I’ve just run into some problems… as ALWAYS. I was psyched to get my theme up and running some sweet Flash animations. That idea has since fallen through. So then I decided I’d like a nice clean UI or homepage from which to view my posted pictures/videos, casting, fan projects, etc. I want to include a link to my photography/video cache. Maybe even include a link to previous info about LOST or my other obsessions. So I started updating my home page in anticipation! Head on over to the chasinglilly.net home pageand check it out! Currently it looks a little funky on a few Safari/iPad browsers I’ve tested it on. But as long as you’re running Firefox you should see it and think it’s cool. Hey, it’s only temporary so I was not about to put too much into it!

I was able to start a mini photoblogging site for my pictures. It will also be home to some sweet videos once I get a break! You can check it out at chasinglilly.net/artsyfart. You can also click the homepage banner to visit it, as my new instructions point out! I’ve got it set up to post a new photo every day till the end of August. Hopefully by then I’ll have some more time on my hands to shoot some new ones and get some videos running! W00t!

Back to the Hunger Games train-of-thought: the new UI ideas fell through as well, though the menu has made a MENTAL COMEBACK IN MY MIND! Long story short I’m coming close to finalizing my ideas for it and such. Looks like it’ll use some .gifs in the place of flash animations for this particular design. I’ve never really worked with .gifs much before (mainly because I can’t help but think “1990s” when I hear the file extension), so it’s a bit of a learning experience for me! As a test I placed a fiery mockingjay .gif on the home page. I’m also going to put into use that slick Hunger Game countdown clock they’ve got going over on the Hunger Game movie site. That’ll take some flash coding anyways, I suppose. The blending of all the elements will really make the site “catch fire” if you get my drift I’ll keep you updated. If all goes well, I plan to have it up by this time next week! Exccciiiittteeemenetenetentent inDUCING, I know!

I even updated my banner up top from “The whole world stopped on May 23, 2010…” to “I’m workin’ on it, OKAY??” just so you guys know!

Happy Trails,
Sam.

My best bud Will McCarry is just now releasing his long-awaited debut solo album, In Flight. He’s been working on it for quite a while, and it really shows. It’s an awesome selection of songs, and you should all definitely pick it up. Yours truly even makes an appearance on at least one song. Right now the only way to get the whole album is from him, though I’m working with him on a way to put it up online for free. Maybe I’ll even host it here on ChasingLilly.net! You can, however, check out some of the songs at either his Facebook Fan Page or his Myspace. And while you’re over on Facebook, be sure to become a fan!

In preparation for the album, our quite good friends Mel Kobran and Nathaniel Tonelli worked on an album cover for the CD. You can see the finished back cover/cover (respectively) for the album below. They did a really great job, and Mel did a great job putting it all together in Photoshop. All the elements are real, from the hand drawn planes to the coffee stain (which is actually an orange juice stain, but who needs to know?). As always, click to enlarge and by doing so, enjoy.

While they worked on the cover, I simultaneously worked on designing the inside of the album booklet. I finally finished yesterday at 4 AM, and figured I could share a few of the pages with you. But I won’t share them all, some surprises should be left for when you get your hands on a copy of the album!

In Flight booklet pages 1 & 2

In Flight booklet pages 5 & 6

I think it turned out quite well, but then again I am a bit biased. So far the response has been positive, though, so that’s a good sign. Regardless it was a lot of fun branching out into the design of album art. The awesome photos from the booklet were taken by Mel as well. She’s a photography major at VCU, so go over to her flickr or some place and support her. Another friend of mine, Billy Bacci, is also releasing an album soon (he claims next week) and has asked me to do something for him. I can smell another late-night-team-album-art-creating venture coming! Where’s my album? It’s coming…

So go pick up a copy of In Flight from Will, and I’ll keep everyone else updated on where they can download a copy of the album on the interwebz. Soon, very soon. In fact by tomorrow. No joke. I know, it’s crazy how much I’m suddenly blogging. And yes, I realize I’m just having a conversation with myself at the computer.



Happy Trails,
Sam.

I’ve been sick as of late, and (in my free time from watching Arrested Development) have renewed my love for digital design. So I’ve been spending a lot more time in Photoshop and After Effects designing stuff for really any reason at all. I’m still working on effects for our National Treasure spoof.

I’ve started making some pretty cool outer space graphics for our epic travel to the moon in the trailer. That’s right, we go to the moon searching for the next National Treasure. Right now I’m making a street-level zoom-out into space and some clips going towards the moon. All in After Effects, which can be a little hard as AE isn’t a 3D program. However, it’s far better than the alternative for me, which would involve animating in Blender or my not-working 3ds Max. I think I would rather jump off a cliff than bother with the terrible virtual cameras there. Though I should probably learn… Ah well, it’s forcing me to be more creative in AE, which is also helpful. I’ll add some vids of what I’m doing with that soon.

I’m also working on a graduation “gift” thingy in Photoshop. I’ll post it when it’s done as well. However at the moment every attempt I’ve made has failed. When there’s new info, I’ll update. Well those are my thoughts for today, hopefully next time I write I won’t be sick and at 2:14 AM.

Happy Trails and Namaste,

Sam.