Out of the Frying Pan…
   
No Next No Last

Saturday — February 6th, 2010

Out of the Frying Pan…

Presenting Sunday’s comic a few hours early (well, according to Eastern Standard Time, anyway).

-Krishna

PCW Sampler #2 cover

Sampler #2 cover complete!

Here’s the cover for the second PCW / UNcubed Sampler, inked and colored!

And here’s the UNcubed side of the Sampler:

screenshot: PCW / UNcubed Sampler #2 back cover

Update: The PCW / UNcubed Sampler #2 will be 24 pages and sell for $5.00. I should have a supply on hand for MegaCON on March 13th and 14th. The print run will be limited to 50, for a MegaCON exclusive. If you’re interested in reserving a copy, let me know.

-Krishna

Calling a Time Out

Effective immediately, I’m moving down to a one comic per week schedule on PC Weenies. New PC Weenies comics will be published every Wednesday.

The reason for this is several-fold, but all have to do with the fact that the comic has been taking a lot of my time to create, and I need to funnel that time towards new projects and building some new skill-sets. It’s a tough decision for me, but I think it’s the right decision.

I don’t want to outright stop making comics, because I really enjoy making them. So, a one a week schedule seems to be the best compromise. Does that mean that the content will come to a standstill on pcweenies.com?

Nope.

I’ll continue to write and share my thoughts and interests (as well as new artwork) on the blog.

UNcubed will continue to update every Wednesday, just like it always has. Thanks for your understanding.

-Krishna

PCW rough concept for Sampler #2

rough sketch for PCW / UN3 sampler #2 cover (PCW side)

I literally have less than a handful of copies of the PCW / UNcubed Sampler #1 left, which means it’s time for me to make PCW / UNcubed Sampler #2. The Sampler will be a 24 page comic book collecting the highlights of PCW / UN3. It’s meant for new readers, but I plan on tossing in a few extra goodies that uber-fans will enjoy.

I’m hoping to have the book laid out and complete this week, and sent to Ka-Blam for printing. I will also be designing a new cover for the UNcubed side.

-Krishna

Update: I completed the UNcubed cover a few hours ago. Take a peek!

Bob’s Skull

Bob skull

I’m brainstorming ideas for the next PC Weenies / UNcubed Sampler (Sampler #2, for those of you keeping score). This was just one of the sketches that came out as a result of my brainstorming session. While I don’t think this will be used for a cover, I’m curious to know what you think about the concept.

-Krishna

Update:

Here’s a new wallpaper based on the image above.

bob_skull_2560

More RAM!

More RAM!

Earlier this week, I ordered two 2 GB memory cards for my Mac Pro from OWC. The new RAM arrived this morning. I currently run a machine with 6GB of RAM, but I needed an additional 4GB because of all the memory intensive applications I have open simultaneously.

The RAM install will happen tomorrow. The geek in me is looking forward to it.

-Krishna

Update: Running 10GB and lovin’ it! The RAM upgrade was ridiculously simple.

UNcubed: The Mumbai Experience (Part IV)

Uncubed teaser: 2-3-10

The adventure continues over at UNcubed. I’m particularly happy with how panel 1 and panel 2 came out.

-Krishna

My Mac Maintenance Strategy

the MacPro setup

I’ve owned and used Macs since 1996. The ones I’ve owned have been generally trouble-free and given me a lot of good service. As they say, “treat your tools with care, and they will treat you well.” (I’m not exactly sure who said that, but it sounded good, so go with it.)

For the most part, there isn’t much in the way of my routine Mac maintenance. Here’s what I do on a monthly basis:

  1. I hose down the insides of my Mac Pro with a can of compressed air.
  2. I run Tianium Software’s Onyx to repair permissions, delete caches, and perform system maintenance on my hard drive.
  3. I run Alsoft’s Disk Warrior to rebuild directories on my main hard drive. (Worth the $99 if you ask me.)

Every 6 months or so, I run Coriolis’s iDefrag. (costs $30)

Instead of booting up the DiskWarrior CD, I run it from another internal hard drive on my system. The advantage of doing this is DW runs much, much faster.

Whenever I’m prepared to install a new Mac OS, I prefer to back-up my data and wipe my main boot drive. It gets rid of any cruft (unused apps, old preferences, etc.) and generally (I find) makes my system more responsive. Yes, it’s a minor pain in the backside to reinstall all my apps, but I’ve gotten used to it.

My back-up strategy is limited to the external drives I have in my office. I’m looking into backing up my data to the “cloud”, but so far, I’m not sure which service is best for me. I incorporate two different types of data back-ups. One type is via Apple’s own Time Machine. The other is through Shirt Pocket Software’s SuperDuper. Time Machine backs-up on the hour, every hour, and I have SuperDuper scheduled for a full data back-up every night. The advantage of using SuperDuper is that it creates a fully bootable back-up drive.

If you’re running a Mac, I’m curious to know what your Mac maintenance strategy is. Sound off in the comments below.

-Krishna

Teaser for Tomorrow’s strip

I haven’t forgotten about the predicament I’ve left Bob in. The Footle storyline continues this week, deep within the catacombs of the Footleplex. Here’s a teaser panel showing the inks for tomorrow’s toon:

teaser for 2-2-10 strip

-Krishna

Strip 754 revamp

This comic will appear in the Winter issue of The BENT magazine, Tau Beta Pi’s long-running engineering publication. Rather than just send them the original single panel ‘toon, I went back and redrew it. This comic originally ran on the site back in 2005.

Before:
Strip-754_orig

Here’s the same comic 5 years later.

After:
pcw_0754_revamp

I enjoyed the process of updating my old artwork. I may do this for a few of my favorite single panel ‘toons.

-Krishna

Rebranding Typical Mac User!

Old design:

tmup_header.jpg

New design:

TMUP revised header

I recently completed a branding revamp for Victor Cajiao, host of the Typical Mac User Podcast. You might recall that Victor was a recent guest-star.

When I’m not working on comics, or teaching (my full-time job), I work as a freelance designer. If you’re interested in my design services, please drop me a note. I specialize in illustration, logos, and developing brand identities. I have a few openings coming up in February. My prices are reasonable and I would be more than happy to provide references.

In the meantime, pop over to Typical Mac User!

-Krishna

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