Things that can contribute to different display of websites on different computers.
By John Potter
Screen resolution is the number one contributor to a difference in display. Screen resolution is a setting on a computer that controls how many pixels are displayed vertically and horizontally. It’s kind of like the difference between a TV screen and a movie screen, but when you change the screen resolution on a computer websites generally don’t stretch. The content automatically gets rearranged to fit the new situation (See article: Ice, Liquid and Jello Design).
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Ice, liquid and jello are different methods of doing page layout for websites.
By John Potter
Since screen resolutions (if you don’t know what screen resolution is visit this article) can vary different approaches to displaying content have been developed. A page using ice doesn’t change width based upon the width of your browser. It is usually just narrow enough to be viewed comfortably at the minimum resolution the designer picks or higher. The content of an ice design may be aligned left, right or centered and may move based on this if you change resolution, but it will remain the same width.
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Escape Key Graphics sports a new look and new technology
Hi and welcome to the new EscapeKeyGraphics.com.
You may have noticed in the past few weeks that Escape Key Graphics has had a makeover, but that was just the beginning. I have redesigned the website to look more appealing, replaced most of the HTML code with CSS to improve performance and get with the times, and now I have also added a blogging feature. There will be even more improvements coming soon.
This will make it easier for me to update the site with fresh content to give you a reason to keep coming back.
Don’t fear though, I wont post entries like “What I did this weekend”. I will do my best to stick to topics of interest to my existing and future clients. This will mostly consist of entries pertaining to graphics, art and web technology.
Please come back often and I will do my best to make it worth your time.
Thanks,
John Potter
step by step process of a book cover from concept to completion.
By John Potter
Sketch1
Sketch 2
Sketch 3
Final Proof
Final Product
Back in 2003 I was contacted by friend and author, Jay Humphreys, saying that he had just written his first novel and would like me to create a cover for it. The transcript arrived a day or two later and I read it immediately. It was a very visual story, so this was going to be fun. It was called Uncle Sam’s and set it in the 1930s in St. Augustine, Florida.
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This article is to help inform anyone who wants to hire someone to produce a book cover for them.
By John Potter
I’m going to break down the development process into three
steps. In some outstanding cases steps can be skipped or modified,
but this is the method I have used for almost every book cover
I’ve developed. It has worked well for me and my clients find
it efficient and helpful to them as well.
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Step by step process of the creation of a mural
By John Potter
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Finished sketch
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Ensuring proper measurements for the space
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Final product
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See a gallery of the creation of this mural Step By Step
When I bought my home there was a huge blank wall right at the end of my swimming pool on my patio. It made you feel kind of like you were swimming into a wall, or you were in some kind of compound. This was the perfect place for a mural.
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Photorealism is reproduction of reality as close to or better than the quality of photography by hand.
By John Potter
Please notice that all examples on this page have been enhanced with software to show the points described better. Lines should not be this dark while the drawing is in progress.
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Old West Miniature Museum formerly at the Red Barn Flea Market in Bradenton, FL
By John Potter
When I was a student at Ringling School of Art and Design, I think it was 1986, I was looking over the freelance job board one day and saw something about designing and building a museum. I asked about it and was told they intended to remove it since we weren’t construction workers.
Fortunately I had some construction background and one of my best friends and classmates, Bob Penney, had a professional construction background. Off Bob and I went to check it out. It turned out that a gentleman affiliated with the Red Barn Flea Market in Bradenton, Florida had, what he claimed, was the world’s largest old west miniature collection and wanted to build a museum at the flea market to display it.
We started out with a warehouse that was framed for offices and a big pile of old west miniatures, but we sat down, drew up plans, demolished the office framing, framed out the museum floor plan and set to work.
The project took us about a year and we employed many of our classmates painting backdrops, repairing miniatures, building dioramas and doing lots of other crazy tasks.
The museum didn’t last, but Bob and I will always have fond memories of it and marvel that a bunch of students in their twentys actually put that thing together.
Hybrid propulsion is frequently touted as the latest thing these days, but it simply isn’t. It’s just a good idea whose time has come.
By John Potter
Hybrid propulsion is frequently touted as the latest thing these days, but it simply isn’t. It’s just a good idea whose time has come.
With fuel prices spiraling out of control, what used to amount to an acceptable annoyance has become a serious economic consideration. Alternative power supplies are an obvious point of investigation under the circumstances. Hydrogen fuel cells simply aren’t there yet, and most other forms of alternative energy resources are speculative at best. This leaves the next logical step to be a reexamination of the resources and technology we already have at hand. This is where hybrid technology comes in.
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Helpful tips for the first time bareboat charterer in The British Virgin Islands
By John Potter
I read read all the travel books, watched all the travel videos and visited all the websites. I was still blown away by the BVI. Words and even pictures are simply incapable of communicating the simple, laid back grandeur of the islands.
The British Virgin Islands are a truly remarkable place. The islands are very diverse in terrain and foliage. The snorkeling around the islands is equally amazing and diverse, and of course the sailing is remarkable. There always seems to be at least a gentle breeze, and the seas are seldom very rough. The islands make visible, line of site, destinations that even the most novice navigator could find.
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