Freelance update: I'm now offering custom Wordpress sites (by Manning, 4:46pm)

Hey gang, I wanted to announce that I'm now offering custom websites made in Wordpress.

A little background: I've traditionally made websites for my clients by myself, by hand, from start to finish: I did the graphic design in Photoshop and then built the sites by hand with html, css, asp, php, etc. This process allowed for maximum control over the design but offered less control to the client in terms of making edits to the site's content, adding pages, etc.

I've recently had tons of new clients ask me about using Wordpress to make their sites, so I've taken some time to become proficient with it. Wordpress is a website management system where you, the owner of the site, have full control over the content of your site; you can make updates, add pages, post to a built-in blog, etc. If you think about it like your LiveJournal, imagine the process you use to add a new entry, or edit an old entry, and then imagine that same kind of process applied to an entire website; you can view any page of your site and click an "edit" link to go in and make changes. So, I'm now offering a service where I design and build a custom template for you and then build you a Wordpress site using that design, so you'll have a website with a cool original look in which you can display and control all of your content.

Here's what I offer in my Wordpress website design package:

1. A custom design for your website — My price includes three rounds of design with revisions based on your comments, so we can arrive at a design that you love. I work in Photoshop mockups before touching any code. One of my main goals in designing for the web is to break up the natural boxiness of the web format and create designs that are fresh and fun and have some real warmth and humanity to them. I could go on and on for hours about my web design philosophy (believe me) but I'll keep it brief here. Take a look at my web design gallery (http://www.manningkrull.com/web_design) for lots of examples of my work. I particularly enjoy creating website designs that combine graphic design with other areas of my expertise, like illustration, pixel art, photography, etc.
2. Building the custom theme — When your new design is done, I'll convert it into a custom template for your site (Wordpress calls these "themes") by editing the php and css files that make up the interface of your Wordpress site. The php and css code of the site live in a totally separate place from your content, so you'll never have to worry about or even see the layout code while you're adding and managing your content.
3. Wordpress site set up — I'll help you set up your domain name and web hosting space and get Wordpress installed on your site. I can walk you through these steps or do any of them for you if you wish.
4. My Wordpress tutorial — I'll provide a brief document written by me explaining in super simple terms the process of using your Wordpress site. This is mostly useful for clients with little or no experience in web content management, so if you've already done some blog or website management, you can probably skip the basic instructions and start using your site right away, and maybe consult my documentation later for some tips and tricks.

Here's some of what you'll be able to do with your Wordpress account and custom theme:

• Add new pages to your site. These will also appear as links in the navigation section.
• Post to your blog, which can live either on the homepage of your site or on an interior page.
• Create links, post images, and add video in your pages and blog posts, all without touching a single line of code.
• Edit or delete your pages or blog entries at any time.
• Control the order of pages in the navigation column; add pages, move pages, remove pages, file pages into sections and sub-sections, etc.
• Choose to allow or disable reader comments on all pages and blog posts.
• Take advantage of Wordpress plug-ins to add features such as image galleries, podcast players, etc. I can set these up for you based on your needs.

There are lots of web designer and developers out there with varying degrees of experience, and I've found when it comes to choosing one, you really get what you pay for in terms of quality, attention to detail, and professionalism. Here's some info about what I offer in terms of my own personal process and philosophy, as well as my ten-plus years' experience making websites.

• Your site will be 100% bug-free and will display perfectly across all platforms and browsers (Mac/PC, Firefox/IE/Safari, etc).
• Your site will download quickly and render neatly, without any "jumping" as the individual pieces load.
• Your site will be easy for you — and even more importantly, for your readers — to use.
• Your site's interface design will be infinitely scalable, so that you can add any quantity of content without fear of "breaking" the site. The site will adapt to your content, not the other way around.
• Your site will be SEO (search engine optimization) -friendly to allow for the best possible ranking in Google search results, short of paying for Google sponsorship.
• I'll always be available to answer any questions you have and help you with any problems. If somehow you should ever "break" the site (which is almost impossible) I'll help you restore it to its former state.

Rates: Please contact me for my rates for all of the above. manning@manningkrull.com

Beyond Wordpress: Of course, I'm still available for all the other types of website projects I've always done, including traditional self-contained websites, Flash-based websites, custom Blogger templates, etc. Please contact me for further information! manning@manningkrull.com

Thanks!

- Manning

Ants in my France (by Manning, 2:18pm)

I received something amazing in the mail a couple days ago!

You may remember that when Marjorie and I visited La Réunion back in March, my friend Adam (thespus) in Seattle asked me if I might collect a few exotic tropical insects and mail them to him for his collection. I ended up getting him about half a dozen, which you can see in Adam's entry about them, which also includes some fascinating information on his process for reassembling broken bugs.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I got an e-mail from Adam asking me for my mailing address in Paris and telling me he had a belated birthday present for me. I wrote him with my address and told him, "It better not be bugs!"

It turns out it was bugs.

( Lots more pictures! )

I survived swine flu and all I got were these lousy antibodies (by Manning, 9:15pm)

I had swine flu! For real! It was really awful, but not at all interesting enough to write about. (I didn't even tell my family; they're going to be furious. Hi Amanda!) I've actually been better for a few days, but after being cooped up and stuck in bed for a while, I had nothing interesting going on and nothing to write about here on LJ. I've finally been tentatively going out, wandering around Paris, taking pictures, etc, and life is pretty much back to normal. This morning I walked to the Arènes de Lutèce to take a few pictures for Cool Stuff in Paris. I'll put 'em here for now, but the article will come a little later, as I've got a million other articles half-written right now that I need to finish.

The Arènes de Lutèce is, in my opinion, one of the most fascinating things in Paris, and most Parisians have never even heard of it. It's a real-ass Roman arena dating from the first century, built during the Gallo-Roman period. The place got destroyed during a barbarian invasion in the third century, eventually people mostly forgot about it, and modern French scholars knew that it had existed but didn't know exactly where until 1858 when it was accidentally discovered during some construction project. It was eventually restored in 1917. It's now a sort of park, hidden behind big apartment buildings on all sides, and you could walk by any of its three entrances without even noticing it's there. It's absolutely amazing for me to stand in this place and know that ancient Parisians hung out here for sports, shows, etc, almost two millenia ago.

( A few more pictures... )

My religion (by Manning, 7:36pm)

My religion: Every morning, think of the tie I want to wear, reach into a dark closet to the rack of fifty(-ish) ties, and pull one out. If it's the one I wanted, it is an Awesome Day and I am the Chosen One. Today is an Awesome Day. Black with gray flowers. Amen.

Kaboom! (by Manning, 4:42pm)

Those of you who checked out my photos from the D-Day beaches in Normandy the other day might recall my mentioning a place called the Pointe du Hoc, and how I didn't take any pictures there because it was pouring rain. Well, Marjorie's dad sent me his pictures from the whole weekend, including some from the Pointe du Hoc, and there's this great, ridiculous one of me, Marjorie, and Jenny in a huge hole left by an Allied bomb in 1944. We're all wearing identical windbreakers; they were promotional items from M's dad's company, which he brought to protect us all against Normandy's notoriously rainy Autumn weather.

Haha, I wish you could feel the wind and rain we were studiously ignoring in order to have fun out there. I'd brought my good umbrella but the second I opened the thing it immediately turned inside out and broke! At least in the bomb hole there was a little less wind. Immediately after this was taken, Marjorie an I climbed out of the hole as fast as we could, stranding Jenny; the sides were a lot steeper than they look here, not to mention slippery with mud. I think she's still there.

In other news, I have a bunch of fun new stuff up on Cool Stuff in Paris:

Recent articles:

• An unfinished statue of the Virgin Mary, buried for eight centuries
• Saint Denis, the decapitated guy you'll see all over Paris
• L'Hôtel de Ville — a great place for an execution!

Recent blog posts:

• And the award for Parisian bar most likely to keep all their neon letters in good working order goes to...
• Hidden in plain sight: fake windows painted onto a building in Beaubourg
• Monsters in the Jardin des Tuileries
• Beautiful Russian nesting dolls at Peterhof

I've also created a LiveJournal syndication of the Cool Stuff in Paris blog if you'd like to add it. It's here: coolstuffparis. It's not ideal in that it seems to only update every 24 hours or so, rather than in real time, but it's still a good way to keep up with my Cool Stuff blog if you don't feel like following it on Blogspot or adding it to your rss reader.

How're you?

Devil bunny is not allowed on the chair (by Manning, 10:23pm)

... and he knows it.

Kyubi is actually named after some sort of Japanese fox demon, and I think it's a pretty accurate label. This guy drives me up the wall.

A boy and his (robo-)dog (by Manning, 12:32pm)

I have a new illustration up on the splash page of the site for FreeMarket, a new game that's in the works at Memento Mori Theatricks.

I've actually done about a half a dozen color illustrations for this project, and I'll post the rest of them here once the game is out; I'm pretty excited about a few of 'em.

Why on Earth did I have to see this AFTER my birthday? (by Manning, 5:09pm)

SILVER KNUCKLE DUSTER

Silvertone-plated brass skull knuckle duster with Swarovski crystal detail. Sits at the knuckle. Size 8.

$550.00

My weekend at Omaha Beach in Normandy (by Manning, 1:06pm)

For Halloween weekend, Marjorie's dad happened to be visiting Paris from La Réunion, so he and Marjorie and her two sisters and I rented a car and drove up to Normandy to see a bunch of historic sites from the D-Day invasion. We saw Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery there, slept in a hotel where President Eisenhower himself stayed after WW2, played in some real Nazi bunkers, saw a couple D-Day museums, and enjoyed a tremendous amount of good Normandy food (and drink!): seafood, crepes, cheese, wine, calvados, et cetera. Here are some pictures from the weekend...

A nice Spanish fellow offered to take our picture. That's me, Pascal, Marjorie, Jenny, and Deb.

( Tons of pictures; Omaha Beach, museums, bunkers, etc... )

Rabbits are the new wolves (by Manning, 11:57am)

Haha, this is great. You'll remember last week when I asked everyone to post pictures of whatever they'd like to give me for my birthday.

Ben (schtune) posted a picture of Rabbit Wine Bottle Stoppers. That cracked me up!

A week later in the mail, I received a package from Ben and his family. It contained:

Coincidence???

(Thanks, Ben, Corri, and Lily-bird!)

The Halloween Comics That Wouldn't Die (by Manning, 8:38pm)

Did you know I drew a whole lot of short Halloween comics back in the day? calamityjon wrote about 'em here (be sure to admire his pumpkins, if you know what I mean), and there are links to even more of them on my Comics page on my site.

Happy Halloween some more!

Jungle Adventure! (by Manning, 3:31pm)

Hey, I drew this!

It's another logo for a game by Memento Mori Theatricks, like the Action Castle logo I did for them a while back.

I'm working on some folio art to go along with it now. It's on its way soon, Jared, if you're reading this!

This is (not) Halloween (by Manning, 12:46pm)

A lot of folks have been asking me what I'll be doing for Halloween this year, and the answer is: not much! And: A lot!

This will actually be the first Halloween I'll be spending in France, believe it or not; I've been pretty good about getting back to the States for Halloween parties and other events in recent years. And it'll be just my second Halloween in Europe; I spent Halloween 2005 in Transylvania, with hopes of visiting Cetatea Poenari — Vlad the Impaler's castle — but ended up getting very sick and having no choice but to cut the trip short (don't worry; I went back and saw the castle the next year). Every other year of my life, I can tell you exactly where I was — and more importantly, what I was wearing! — on Halloween. I'm really sad to miss out on American Halloween this year, and to not be working on a costume right now. But try as I might, I haven't been able to find any decent substitutes in France; they just don't celebrate the holiday at all here, not in any way that seems fun or spooky or worthwhile. I covered all of this in my article about Halloween in Paris on my Cool Stuff in Paris site.

So, completely unrelatedly, Marjorie's dad is visiting Paris right now, and he and his three daughters and I are renting a car and driving up to Normandy this weekend. Marjorie's dad is a huge fan of WWII history, and we're going to visit Omaha Beach and some other sites of the D-Day invasion, and check out a WWII museum or two. I've been up to the D-Day beaches before, but I'm looking forward to being there again, and I'm always up for any excuse for a road trip! I wonder if knowing it's Halloween will lend anything spooky to the atmosphere; I'll definitely keep my eyes open for Nazi ghosts!

I posted a few barely-related Halloween things in my Cool Stuff in Paris site and blog this week:

• Some spooky pictures of a tree growing around a tombstone in the Cimetière de Montmartre.
  
• A very creepy French advertisement for hand sanitizer.
  
• An article about the the Wolves of Paris, a pack of man-eating wolves who terrorized Paris in 1450, killing 40 people.
  
• A revamped version of my old article about Le Café de L'Enfer, a Hell-themed café in 19th-century Montmartre.

... And a not at all Halloween-related article about getting the most out of the Louvre.

As you can see, I've been super busy getting the Cool Stuff website up and running in the last couple weeks, and as a result I've been very quiet on LiveJournal. As I'm finally getting enough content into the site now where I no longer feel embarrassed at how empty it is, I'll soon have a lot more time to write here. I'll definitely have some D-Day beach photos to show by early next week, at the very least.

Happy Halloween, everybody! Wish I were there!

Spooky crows at the Cimetière de Montmartre! (by Manning, 10:51pm)

I was taking some photos at the Cimetière de Montmartre just before sundown this evening, when suddenly a small murder of crows (wow, how often do I get to say that?) alit on some tombs right next to me! Talk about creepy! Finally, there's the Halloween vibe I've been desperately searching for over here. Unfortunately the photo's no good with the sunset in the background, which I realized at the time, but I couldn't resist at least trying.

34 (by Manning, 7:30pm)

Thanks for all my great jpg-formatted birthday presents yesterday, everybody!

Here's the first picture of me at age 34, last night just before heading out to the Mysteries of Paris Ghost Tour. It was fun!

Go Man-ning. It's your birthday. (by Manning, 1:41pm)

Today I'm 34! This year my birthday wish is the same as last year's; please Google Image Search something you'd like to give me and post the picture in the comments. Thanks in advance! You shouldn't have. I mean, I guess, you shouldn't.

Also, new this week on Cool Stuff in Paris:

• Halloween in Paris
• A bird's-eye view of chaos at the Arc de Triomphe
• The arrondissements — Paris' twenty districts
• Blog | rss | Twitter

Weird public art in Paris, and a Halloween prank (by Manning, 8:26pm)

Today on Cool Stuff in Paris I've started a gallery of weird public art! Several of the pics are things you've seen here on LiveJournal, but there are a bunch of new ones, and I'll be adding more as I run across them in town.

(Fyi, I plan to keep these new website updates to a minimum on my LJ; maybe I'll post a list of new articles here every week or so.)

In other news, man, I've been in serious Halloween deprivation mode, and this clip is just what the doctor ordered.

Introducing Cool Stuff in Paris! (by Manning, 3:05pm)

Hey folks, today I'm unveiling a new project I've been working on for a few months now, a tourism site for cool, weird, and unusual things in Paris. It's called, simply, Cool Stuff in Paris.

I'd been wanting to make a site like this literally for years, as I realized I was becoming a sort of expert on a lot of Paris stuff that's not in the guidebooks. I answer a lot of e-mails from visitors to my LiveJournal and photo galleries who have questions about Paris and other places I've traveled, and I've found that I really, really enjoy sharing this kind of information with people. I personally try to find the weirdest stuff everywhere I travel, and it's a great feeling to be able to help other people who're looking for the same sorts of things. Of course there are a zillion guidebooks and websites about tourism in Paris, but they all cover basically the same stuff, and I wanted to do a project that focuses on the lesser-known things that appeal to weird people like me. All the e-mails I get tell me I'm not the only one!

The website is still very much a work in progress, and I'm currently working on tons more articles that I'll be adding every day for, well, for a long time, really! The site feels pretty empty right now and that's giving me tons of motivation to fill it up quickly. Today and all this week a lot of little things will be changing, like some formatting tweaks, addition of lots more photos, etc. I promised myself I'd launch the thing today no matter what state it was in, so this is it! I think it's in pretty good shape, I just desperately want to get a lot more content in there as soon as possible. If you happen to notice any weird layout errors, I would be eternally grateful if you'd e-mail me at manning@manningkrull.com. I'm on a PC and have had limited chances to check the site on a Mac, but so far so good.

Please feel free to send the link to the site to anyone you know who's going to be visiting Paris any time in the future! And you can subscribe to the blog and or Twitter to be notified of all new articles as they go up.

Enjoy!

The view from my front window right now (by Manning, 4:32pm)

Neat illustration job (by Manning, 3:15pm)

I just finished an unusual rush illustration job that was kind of a fun challenge. One of my regular clients hires a lot of different illustrators for their magazine covers, and along with all the normal jobs I do for them, once in a while they've hired me to re-do someone else's illustration that they weren't happy with. This time they came to me with an illustration that they simply wanted me to fix up a bit; they were happy with the thing overall but didn't like the facial features on the central character. I suspect they asked for a fix rather than a total re-do just because it would save them some cash; understandable. I was happy to give it a shot!

( Before and after... )