SuperQuest - The Race of Your Life

What did you do this weekend? I ran a race through the city of Charlotte and in doing so I played a life-sized game of Jenga, hung out with good friends, answered trivia questions, deciphered a coded message and followed clues to over a dozen local establishments. No this is not my typical Saturday. All of this was the result of an idea a friend of mine had to celebrate her husband’s birthday last year and it was so wildly successful that it evolved into a new business for her.

This company is known as SuperQuest Races and they plan and implement private and corporate "Amazing Race" type pub crawls throughout urban areas. Their races are customizable to suit the needs of your group. The idea is that racers must complete tasks and solve clues to move through various bars, restaurants, landmarks, and public art in a specific order. Bottom line, it’s a blast!

I recently had the privilege to be a part of this experience in more ways than one. After having competed in one of these races myself, the owner approached me about helping her create a website. I was thrilled to be a part of it. Be sure to check out the website I created for them (below) and look for them on Facebook and Twitter.

http://www.superquestraces.com/

In addition to that I’m going to shamelessly plug my web design company DesignInk. A link to this website can be found at:

http://www.design-ink.co/

I hope you like what you see. Enjoy!

The Designer is “IN”

In an effort to continue reflecting what is going on in my life I have produced the following single-panel comic. It’s part reflection and part tribute…to the late, great Charles Schultz of course. It is also indicative of my quest for work. I have been living the life of a freelancer for the last two years. I have pursued opportunities in architecture, the field in which I am formally trained. I’ve done graphic design & illustration, which is and has always been my passion. Lastly, in an effort to diversify I went back to school to earn a degree in web design. All of this has been in an effort to invest in myself and facilitate my own personal advancement.

All I need to be happy as a freelancer is a creative outlet, challenging projects, good clients and the ability to work or collaborate with people I enjoy. I’ve been lucky in this regard. I’ve been doing exactly that however my biggest challenge has been finding enough work to stay busy “full-time”, as in 40 hours worth of work a week. Don’t’ get me wrong…schedule-wise I’m putting in the time. I’m working a lot more than that but I have single-handedly put the “free” in freelancer. I find myself doing lots of work to get work these days- it’s a new world of business out there and those are the breaks; lots of free advice (hey, you get what you pay for), marketing and competition…and don’t get me started on spec work. I value my time enough to charge for it, even if it’s just peanuts. (pun intended Mr. Schultz)

On any given day I remind myself of the opportunity I have; I am working for myself and doing what I love. I want to take this opportunity to thank the people that have put their faith in me to assist them in bringing their ideas to life or assisting with their business; be it a website, logo, architectural design or otherwise. Working together has forged wonderful relationships and those relationships mean the world to me. I truly believe that it is these relationships that will contribute to one another’s success. I sincerely invest in them but I’m not only talking about professional relationships but personal ones as well. People have continued to support me, pimp me out to their friends and grant me opportunities to do what I am passionate about. Just wanted to say thanks and over the next few posts I will plug a few of my colleagues in an effort to return the favor.

Hot Doggin' for Charity

This is an illustration I was "commissioned" to do (free of charge) for Morgan Stanley to promote their annual Operation Christmas Child fundraiser. Why is the hot dog wearing jeans and eating cake you may ask? Well, that requires some explanation. This character was part of a poster placed around the office to remind the employees that there would be a hot dog lunch, donated baked goods and casual Friday. Operation Christmas Child* is just one of the many charities the office promotes and I'm happy to be of service any time they need a hand jazzing up their fun yet informative signage.

*Feel free to click on the link to learn more about this worthy cause.

Self Employed

As I've mentioned before I now find myself self employed. I spend my days slaving away at my home office. I find myself doing architectural design, graphic design and web design. The best part is that I find my work to be very fulfilling however the down side is that I get to handle all my own IT problems. So do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? What are the perks of self employment you may ask? Well, here’s my top ten list of reasons:

1. Being your own boss means setting your own hours
2. Your commute consists of walking from one room to another
3. A very lax dress code (clothing optional)
4. Safer than crab fishing the Bering Sea, speaking of which you don’t miss your favorite daytime t.v. shows
5. Welcome to a world where those “questionable websites” aren’t blocked- yes I mean Facebook, of course
6. You are on a first-name basis with the mailman
7. You can listen to your music as loud as you please
8. No need to fight co-workers for fridge space just to have them eat your lunch because it’s
better than theirs
9. Very few sexual harassment issues

And last but not least…
10. There’s a pretty good chance of making Employee of the Month

Well, those are my reasons for being self employed. If I didn’t mention one that’s near and dear to your heart please post it below. I look forward to hearing from you. Now get back to work!

Chasing Steeples

My web design classes are almost at an end and I wanted to post another drawing. This is just a rough sketch from my weekend. My sister came down from Boston (you know- up theh neah Hahvad, wheh the smaht kids ah) with her new hubby Chris. This was her first trip to my new home so I wanted to do something special. With that in mind we spent Saturday with some friends hanging out in Waxah, NC at the Steeplechase. It was a great time; we enjoyed horse races, adult beverages, beautiful weather, playing cornhole and people watching.

There was more seersucker there than a KFC commercial but rather than post an illustration that depicts southerners in their most auspicious digs I chose to reflect the main event instead. And last but not least, I want to thank the Martins for organizing, implementing and hosting the whole thing- I think everyone would agree they did a terrific job. We may just have to make this an annual thing!

Rumors…

That’s right folks, I have finally resurfaced after a prolonged absence…. Despite speculations to the contrary, I have not been abducted, become gainfully employed, entered the witness relocation program, joined a cult, or forgotten about The Inkspot.

I recently started taking web design classes in January this year. I can’t tell you how great it’s been. I’ve really been enjoying it and I have been pressed to learn a lot in a short amount of time. It’s the first time I’ve been in school since I graduated from the UNCC College of Architecture in 2003. It took a little bit of an adjustment for me after being out of work for about a year now, you know - leave the house, wear clothes, and interact with others.

I have received countless letters, emails & requests in all forms demanding another post…(even one stalker) all claiming, “We want more Inkspot!”. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating slightly but for those of you who have spoken up (you know who you are) I appreciate the continued support.

That being said, I owe all you loyal followers an apology. The projects I've been working on have kept me scrambling so I have been neglecting my illustration duties, and I haven't been on my own site all that much. It’s my intent to get back into the habit of keeping the site up-to-date. I may even post some of the work I’ve done for school for your viewing pleasure...if for no other reason than to prove I am not lying about my recent whereabouts.

Score: Computer-1, Me-0

I sketched this the other day and it definitely captured the frustrations I was having with my computer very clearly so I thought I'd post it. I certainly didn't post it to reflect my artistic ability but for the way it conveyed the situation. I figured some of you could relate. Contrary to what this drawing would lead you to believe, things are going great with my new web technology classes. It's just more fun to draw circumstances in which things are less than ideal.

It really comes down to trust issues.....(right Dr. Phil?) Is my computer going to let me down? Don't I deserve better than that? You see, it promises time and again to be there for me but when I really need it, it never fails to disappoint. All in all, I have reconciled my differences with my computer for the time being. But, at the time this was a pretty accurate depiction of my point of view. On second thought, perhaps my computer isn't as responsible as one might think. Maybe I should have named the cartoon "Windows Vista Strikes Again".