Rackham's THE VALKYRIE Painting Retouched

I’ve been reading Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelungen, which was a major source of inspiration for Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. 

C. S. Lewis owned a copy illustrated by Arthur Rackham, and he said that book inspired the longing he referred to as seinsucht, that out-of-reach “northernness” that initiated his search for God. 

I just finished the second part, called THE VALKYRIE (which, by the way, subtly inspired my own novel, SONG OF LOCKE). The ending is so epic and tragic. It kills me! But I don’t want to spoil it. Either ask me in person or just read it! 

Below stands Rackham’s painting of that final scene, which I’ve posted in its original form, along with a version I retouched in Photoshop, because that’s what I do. 

I’m a little way into the third part, called SIEGFRIED. The final part is called THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS. 

Michael Crichton Ebook Covers: Jurassic Park, Congo, Timeline

For some reason the Michael Crichton ebooks aren’t being published with the same awesome covers I owned when I was a kid. And here’s what they look like if you buy them from Google Play, yeck:

I’m a little OCD about my ebook collection, so I rebranded a few of them. Here are the Jurassic Park, Timeline, and Congo covers I created based on the original paperbacks.

G. A. Henty Books for Free with Great Covers

I’ve wanted to read some G.A. Henty novels for awhile. I’ve heard they’re an exciting way to learn history. (And, believe me, I have a lot to learn. In some of his subtitles, which are meant to clarify, I don’t even recognize the war he’s referring to.)

But, if you’ve read Inklings, you know I’m a little OCD. Okay, a lot. And I hate uploading ebooks to my library when they look like this—bleh:

 

These covers give me the willies. It’s basically impossible for me to read a book like that. I know, I know. I’m an author. I should be the last person to judge a book by its cover. But I can’t help it. And I do, all the time.

So I recently went through my ebook library and updated the covers for many of the ugly ones. I came across some awesome artwork from some amazing artists. Here’s one of my faves, even though I didn’t end up using it for a cover:

But the point of this whole post is that I designed one cover too, because I couldn’t find a good one online. It’s for a book by G.A. Henty called UNDER DRAKE’S FLAG. And now I want to pass the ECKSDOT EDITION on to you (yes, Ecksdot also happens to be the name of my publishing company, in case you didn’t know, although I feel like I should call it a “publishing company,” with quotes, since it’s mostly just a formality). 

Anyways, here’s the new cover:

And here are the download links for the full ebook, which is FREE!

mnmlst wallpaper

After many days (probably about 4 months) of cluttered misery, today I finally cleared off my computer’s desktop. No more to-do items hanging over my head—everything put away in its own little folder or subfolder. (The OCD is now pacified.)

That made me start wishing I had a new desktop wallpaper. I’m always on the prowl for good ones, but in this sitchyation I decided I ought to just make my own. And here’s where it landed:

I’m a big fan of color, and this seems to match my mood at the moment. It’s soothing, but still has some energy to it. Also, I love the minimalist theme (as you know).

To download the full-sized version, RIGHT-CLICK THIS LINK and choose “Save Link As...”

If you like it enough to use as your wallpaper, let me know in the comments. : )

Ender's Game Wallpaper

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Give me a PLUS ONE if you make this your wallpaper!

ENDER MADE ME A READER
Back in high school, I wasn’t much of a reader (ironic, I know). But my friends (Steve, Ed, Mike, Artie, and Kyle) peer pressured me into reading ENDER’S GAME. When I finally gave in, I loved it. I loved it so much, in fact, that I started to look for other books I might love as much.

When I finished ENDER’S GAME for the second time, I made the wallpaper you see below—that’s how much I was geeking out.

Today, since I’m now a better designer, and as we get ready for the movie, I decided to rebrand it, which is what you see above.

ANDROID: REBRANDED

Sundar Pichai recently became the lead of the Android team. I’m excited to hear his keynote address at the upcoming Google I/O 2013 (15 May). His work with Chrome has been incredible (Chrome may be Google’s most ground-breaking yet polished product yet). A lot of great things will be coming to Android now too—as it’s merged into the Google family more fully. (Below you’ll see a side-by-side comparison.)

What happens when you put a round world on a flat map? (Map on an orange peel)

I’ve been wanting to do this project for a while. I just wanted a visual example of what happens when cartographers put a spherical, round world onto a flat map—Greenland in particular always seems to get the worst of it. Anyways, hope you enjoy my orange-peel map. : )

Ecksdot iPhone Wallpaper

Something snapped and I spent like 4 hours working on these when I should have been grading. I do think the branding is getting better—closer to a launch product, I think. 

What does this make you expect to read in the book? 

By the way, there are more Ecksdot wallpapers on the Downloads page. 

Google Docs Presentation Custom Theme: Kill Twill

So today one of my students used a simple yellow slide with black text—that’s it—and I was like:

I gotta make a Kill Bill theme!

So here it is. You can open it here; then click File > Make A Copy to start editing your own.

I made it all with Google Presentations—cool how versatile a few simple tools can be.

What do you think?

New Ecksdot Wallpapers

Sometimes I have to do something creative. Like if I don’t, I’ll die.

In this case, I made these Ecksdot wallpapers to regain enthusiasm (or gumption, as Robert Pirsig says) for my thesis. It’s been rough lately. I can’t wait to be done. But this creative break—a little leisure—is just the thing to get me past the stuck-ness.

(By the way, you really need to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Eeets the baest.) 

(But now I have to warn you that it’s philosophical—you have to be in to that to enjoy it, I think. He looks into “what is good/beautiful/quality?” and “science versus art.” And all of this while cycling across the states with his son. It’s nonfiction. Great book.)

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

— J

P.S. Oh, and if, perchance, you actually put this as your computer backdrop, I’d sure love to hear about it. I don’t imagine you’ll put the eyeball one up, but the “I am Ecksdot” one is minimalist. And good. I especially like the sneaky URL on the right side. Doesn’t it look good?

The Argument My Mind Scratched on the Green Sunday-School Chalkboard

I just got this published on www.everydaymormonwriter.com (featured post)! 

(I thought of this when I was trying to wrap my head around the term Transgression, as mentioned in the Bible. And, it's funny, it has my old "anonymous" URL.)

(I'm always making abstract concepts into images—in my head at least. Does anyone else do this? Is it helpful? To me it's essential.)

The No-Crumb Rule! (How to keep a clean apartment)

Okay! Fine! I'm sort of a clean freak. But it's good, right? Cleanliness is next to Godliness?

(I made this for fun a few years ago. But I redid it the other day, with better typography. Hope you like it. And I hope it helps your kitchen stay cleaner :)

Michael Crichton Book Covers for Ecksdot

Here are two variations on my first design. Imagine you open the book and put the text down on the table--so you can see the front cover, the spine, and the back cover... 

This is a simple 2-D typographical piece, because I didn't want to spend tons of time on a digital painting. But maybe that's what it will come to. Let me know...

PLEASE VOTE!

Just the front would look something like this...

Also, I already posted the (possible) text for the back cover.

I Once Was Lost But Now I’m Found!

My wonderful friend Lindsay found the painting of Christ walking on the water!

I am so excited.

It’s called “Guardian of the Sea” and it was painted by Danny Hahlbohm.

Beautiful.

Just fyi, I do retouch the artwork I post on here—mostly because I think a lot gets lost in the scanning/photographing process. Here’s the difference:

Want more? Here are two more awesome paintings of Christ.

MISSING: Painting of Christ

If you can't tell, this is a picture of Christ walking on water. The tones are blue, and the Savior himself has a ghostly glow. This is a colored-pencil rendition (in my scriptures), but the ORIGINAL IS A PAINTING. My companion Matt had a copy (that's how I drew it), then he lost it, and I haven't been able to find one since.

This is where you come in. I need to know the AUTHOR and TITLE of this painting.

Whoever shares this information with me will be rewarded with something MORE VALUABLE THAN MONEY (like friendship, gratitude, etc.).

Thanks for your help!

-- Nate

UPDATE: I FOUND IT! http://www.jwashburn.com/2011/07/i-once-was-lost-but-now-im-found.html

Messianic Art: Another Painting of Christ

This piece is by J. Kirk Richards. You'll find his gallery here: http://www.jkirkrichards.com/

Tenere: Word Chart Wallpaper

Yeah, it's a little weird that this is what I think about in my spare time. And it's still weirder that I make wallpapers out of them. But I'm a poet. And poets shape words. So it's okay, right?

Messianic Art: Two Awesome Paintings of Christ

I met this really amazing paintress at the Provo Gallery Stroll the other day: Annie Henrie. This first piece is hers (in wallpaper form). You can buy her art at www.anniehenrie.com.

This next one is currently on display at the MOA on BYU campus. There’s over 350 painting by this James Tissot. But this one was my favorite. It’s called Christ Ascends the Mountain to Pray (or something along those lines).

Want more? Here’s another Messianic painting of Christ.