So after many, many, many months of searching for a new blog template, I’ve finally found the one I think is going to compliment the webcomic PERFECTLY. Not that there’s anything webcomicky, per se, about the new design, but what I wanted and frankly needed was a design that was:
- Modern and filled with wundyful CSS3 magic
- A template that could act as the face for KILLING THE GRIZZLY comics, which it will also be, showcasing THE DESERT PEACH WEBCOMIC, A WASTE OF TIME Webcomix, the upcoming ARMAGEDDONQUEST Webcomic, and the western gothic manga sensation HOPELESS, alongside the GILLIAN’S HEART Webcomic. So it’s got to be semi-corporate, able to manage a “company” branding as well as be an obvious home base for GILLIAN’S HEART and my own personal ramblings.
- Something I actually like. Dammit.
Especially considering that third requirement, it was a LOT harder to find a new design that I originally thought it’d be. Still, it’s all good now. The new design template has been found, and it should be unleahsed/unveiled shortly before or directly alongside the webcomic when it hits. And because god forbid you’re not interested, I thought I’d share all the runners up for new blog design:
I truly dug the layout on this one, clean and yet there’s a lot going on, plus that header which seems tailor-made to hold real ART (as in comic art) rather than just an abstract design. This one was the closest runner up, and would have likely been one that I attmepted to customize, but the creator and the webiste where you go to download it seem to have both disappeared rather recently. So…that was one decision made for me. Sigh… If it ever comes back, I highly recommend it. Me likey.
This one I adored because, ideally, I wanted to stick with the “Pink” aethetic of the current blog design. It’s rare for a straight masculine (I have a thick Tom Sellick moustache, that’s MANLY, by damn) male to freely spearhead a bright pink site simply because it suits the fact that the webcomic it eventually will be seen to tie in to is a sort-of pink themed comic (it’s actually in b&w, but *shrug* it’s called GILLIAN’S HEART, whad’you gonna do?). So I wanted to keep my pseudo-individuality and keep the blog pink. But alas, Beauty Magazine refused to release a PSD version of the design so I could actually make it look like it belonged to my comic and not beauty products. Le sigh… I probably could have slaved to create custom fucking everything and made it work, but why do that when OTHER sites give away their PSDs? Hmmm? Yeah, it wasn’t happening, I’m a busy man, etc, etc. So BM was BM’d out (if you take my meaning, which I think you do oh yes, oh yes, a horse is a horse oh yes, of course).
ANDROIDA
This one was the very first I was seriously considering. I ADORE the homepage, with its scrolling java appearance. But alas, aside from the nifty homepage, the rest of the blog wasn’t the most navigable, user freindly, designer friendly, or flexible. In short, beneath the clever veneer, there wasn’t much I could really DO with the damn thing. Still head on over HERE to see a functioning sample version. It’s the bees knees in a lot of ways, no matter that I ultimately ditched it.
And that’s that. Pretty nifty themes, but the WINNER is somehting I’m tremendously happy with. Can’t wait to parade it around! Few more months, then webcomic and new blog deisgn glory shall be mine! (and farewell my pink concubine…sniff…unless I can get real clever with the PSD of the winning template…hmmm…*thinks girlish thoughts…tee hee*….)
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