CopperBot Media

Dynamic Copyright Code

Nowadays most, if not all, websites contain a small copyright blurb in their site footer. Take a look at the bottom of this site and you'll see the text: "Copyright © 2009-2010 CopperBot Media" as an example. Even if you're fairly new to web design you're probably already savvy enough to know the ASCII character code for the copyright symbol and you might be thinking, "Creating a copyright blurb is pretty easy. Where are you going with this?" The problem with static copyright blurbs created in HTML is that they become obsolete at the end of the year. The purpose of this post is to provide you with a simple dynamic alternative (using php) that will update automatically and keep your copyright blurbs up to date.

Web Design Gallery Updated

It's March! Valentines, St. Patty's & Ground Hog Day have all come and gone and this is my first update since early January. My hopes and dreams of updating the site more frequently have been officially dashed but I have been absent with good reason! Today I am happy to finally update my Web Design Gallery with three new sites. Of these sites only one has officially "gone live" but the other two should be finished and online within the coming month. Please take a moment to view the fruits of my labor and let me know what you think. Feedback is always appreciated! Thank you kindly for stopping by!

2010 – Year of the Robot

Well folks, another decade has come and gone. Where were you when you rang in the new year? I was venturing through the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Denver with my dear wife and a small cluster of friends in search of the perfect party. I do believe we found not one, not two but three... complete with cans of cool Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and scores of people dancing to hip-hop like there was no tomorrow. (In one particular house I was mildly concerned about the structural integrity of the floor but it held out long enough to ring in the new decade) Now don't go bashing PBR friends! I know it's a cheap beer that peaked in popularity well before I was born. That is precisely why I enjoy drinking it from time to time... and when it's free... well you'd have to be crazy to turn away free beer.

Mr. Lazzaro – Done and Dusted!

Good morning and Happy Friday! It is currently 12:33 am here in the Copper Factory and my optics have started to fade out so you'll have to excuse me for being so brief with this update. I've just finished uploading the final draft for Mr. Lazzaro and I would love to know what you guys think. The coloring style for this one is a first for me. Like some of my other images I used a layered smudge tool based painting method but before calling it quits I decided to give the entire image a bit of a wash. I washed all the layers with a slight golden hue in an attempt to pull everything together and hopefully end up with a somewhat "dream-like" look. Overall I think it turned out fairly well!

Inking and Plotting

Hello again ladies and gentlemen! Another small art update for you this afternoon. Progress on Mr. Lazzaro is coming along nicely though a bit slower than I would like. There have been lots of distractions this week. Between Nessi being home sick most of the week, reading the scores of submissions I received for potential writers for my upcoming webcomic and trying to get our long overdue taxes for 2008 finished ( yeah don't get me started... the only thing I hate more than taxes is having to file them on an extension ) I've struggled to focus this week. Distractions aside I have made some progress worth sharing.

Mr. Lazzaro

Hello again friends and good day to you wherever you are. I'm back from my post site launch weekend break with a small art update for you today. There is currently a small stack of art projects on my desk here so, assuming I don't fall ill with the dreaded flu which is now making the rounds in Colorado, I should have several more of these to share in the coming weeks. Today I give you a first look at a portrait I've named: "Mr. Lazzaro", an image that portrays my colleague and good friend Chris Lazarro.

Oh yeah, its GO time!

Well here we are ladies and gentlemen, standing on the ledge ready to leap. Over the last few months I've poured every free moment into the creation of this new brand for my online presence. My friends and coworkers from hairyLemon down in New Zealand will likely remember how long I mulled over the options. They will likely laugh as they remember how it seemed like I would never decide on a name for the site, let alone get the to the act of actually designing it. However, here I am typing my second and last blog update before I backup the database and begin the upload process.

Wordpress: My New Best Friend

Hello everyone and welcome to the CopperBot blog! Over the last few days I've been diligently working on getting the site ready for public viewing. It's been a long road getting CopperBot Media designed, cut and integrated but we're nearly there and I'm getting pretty excited! A word to the wise, don't decide to re-brand and thus redesign your website in the midst of an international move. Yes, because I love having more things on my plate than I could ever possibly hope to accomplish I decided to tackle this project just about the time my wife Vanessa and I decided it was time to move back to the United States from New Zealand. Why New Zealand in the first place? Why the move back? Those are questions to be answered at another time. What I want to talk about today is Wordpress.