Kris Black Digital Studio

Little Carwash Helper

Kris Black — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:36:17 +0000

Posted via email from Kris' posterous

My Hair Stylist feeds me Jelly Beans

Kris Black — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:30:21 +0000

Taken at Avalon Salon

Posted via email from Kris' posterous

Self Portrait

Kris Black — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:49:41 +0000

Taken at Panera Bread

Posted via email from Kris' posterous

Becoming a Cartoonist

Kris Black — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 07:30:56 +0000

Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a cartoonist, and I would vary in the exact industry I wanted to go into. First it was to become a comic book artist working one of Marvel Comics flagship titles, The Amazing Spider-Man. Then I found Calvin and Hobbes, The Farside, and a slew of other comic strips in my local newspaper, and I shifted gears to becoming a syndicated comic strip artist. Later I waxed and waned from 2D animation, to political cartooning, to gag comics in the New Yorker, to 3D animation to eventually realizing that 33 years have gone by and I’m not a cartoonist.

It’s not that I’ve wasted my time. Quite the opposite actually. I went to college, met my wife, graduated with a degree, got a job as a graphic design, started a family, worked my way up to being an art and photography director and now I work for a fast growing internet based Web publishing platform. All in all, I’ve accomplished quite a bit in my life. But the one thing that I ignored, kept pushing off to that ever so close but distant “someday” when I grow up was to be a cartoonist.

I’m tired of never getting to that “someday.” I’m tired of doodling and sketching and working on my brilliant ideas. It’s now time to act. Time to do what I want to do. Today, is going down in history as the day I set forth and say by the power of Chuck Jones I will become a cartoonist.

All I need to do now is just find my pencil and then I can get started. Now where did I put that pencil?

The Wilderness Downtown

Kris Black — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:46:58 +0000

The Wilderness Downtown is an interactive film by Chris Milk that utilizes new web technology to create a totally personal experience. Built in HTML5, this experimental film can only be viewed in Google Chrome, the web browser built by Google. The song this film is featuring is “We Used To Wait” by Arcade Fire on their album The Suburbs. (The previous three links open in iTunes.)

If anyone is interested, here’s a link to my experience.

I Need a Project Manager

Kris Black — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:04:03 +0000

Working on my first set of strips and I’m wanting to focus on productivity. It’s a huge factor in my creative career and something I struggle with on a daily basis.

Cartoonist Patrick McDonnell, Creator of Mutts Comic Strip

Kris Black — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:19:14 +0000

There was a huge gap created in newspaper funnies when Bill Watterson ended Calvin and Hobbes in 1995. Then another gap emerged when creator of the Peanuts, Charles Schultz, died in 2000. Two of the most influential and loved creators in comic history were not producing their comics for us to enjoy any longer.

Well, fortunately, another comic strip artist, Patrick McDonnell, came on the scene in 1995 with his beloved little house pets, Earl and Mooch in the comic strip, Mutts. Recently, Mr. McDonnell has collaborated with spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle on a book about the oneness of all life, Guardians of Being. PBS has a great video with incredible insight into the work for this book, while Mr. McDonnell also talks about his comic strip and how it all intertwines with this life.

Watch the full episode. See more Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Squarespace at Refresh Columbia

Kris Black — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 01:13:23 +0000

This coming Wednesday, July 28, 2010, I’ll be giving a live presentation about Squarespace to my local Refresh group. I’m really excited to have this opportunity to geek out about Squarespace. This is my first chance to talk about Squarespace in a public forum, and I’m looking forward to sharing this experience with my local web professional community in Columbia, South Carolina and the surrounding midlands.

Squarespace Superhero: Your Ultimate Website Professional

Kris Black — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:54:33 +0000

Check out my new portfolio, Squarespace Superhero, for all the Squarespace sites I design for my clients!

Internet Explorer can kiss my css T-shirt

Kris Black — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:41:11 +0000

I made this shirt on Zazzle out of my frustration with Internet Explorer and it’s poor lack of CSS standards support. I mean, seriously, what is so hard about complying with standards. I personally think we should start designing sites with a warning that says, “This site is best viewed in ANYTHING other then Internet Explorer.”