Teknidermy Magazine - Issue 5 , Vol. 1 |
July/August,
2001
|
Spotlight
On: Paul Boyer Paul
Boyer is the designer of The FauxS-X Project, a collection of free Icons,
Wallpaper, skins and Desktop X objects, to be used on Microsoft Windows.
Tek: Where do you live? Paul:
I am currently living in Pasadena California, though this is recent. Paul:
I have drawn and scribbled as long as I can remember. As a child I Paul:
I have just gone through a bit of an upgrade, to a P4 1.5 with 128 megs
of ram. I need to upgrade my memory by another 256 ASAP, but the price
of RamBus Ram is still a bit much. At the moment I have two monitors a
19" and a 15". I do the majority of my work on the 19" and use the 15"
for apps Paul: I use CorelDRAW 10 & Photopaint 10 to do 99.9 percent of myskinning. I have been quite outspoken in the past on the merits of the Corel Suite, and got some flame on the matter, from the loyal Photoshop & Illustrator fans out there, but I can say that I can't find anything that I can't do in Corel's programs, and usually much quicker, that I can Adobe's. The only
other program I have used a lot in my skinning is Axialis AX-Icons 4.5
which I am very fond of. I use it to polish up my Iconpacks, to make sure
they look as clean as possible in all the different resolutions. Paul:
I am usually inspired to create or improve my skins, while using
my computer, and going "I sure wish I could do this", or "Wow what If
I could do that". Then I will try it, and about half the time something
comes out of it. Paul: As a rule, for skins, with some minor exceptions I don't do a sketch before I start on a skin. I do however usually do a few experiments in CorelDRAW, before I find something that I am happy with. Then I mockup everything at 300dpi, sometimes using some screenshots to make sure I am getting things on target. Then I Export my bitmaps for Corel at 300dpi, and any resampleing I need to do I do in Corel Photo-Paint. I enjoy
taking apart other people skins and learning the tricks of the trade.
I have mostly taught myself by examineining the work of others. There
are many fine skinners out there. Paul: I am a Computer Artist for Disney, and spend most of my time doing signage for the Disneyland Resort. Ironically I am not allowed to do skinning on my system at work, other than the basics, icons & wallpaper, but it's a fun job all around. I also do freelance illustration and design. My first love is science fiction & fantasy illustration. You can see some of my work, as well as order prints, from my main website: www.odyssey-3.com. I would
love to do skinning for a living, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of
openings for it, one of my dream jobs would probably be given free reign
to design the new GUI for Windows. Paul:
I have a beautiful wife named Kristin who is in the Masters Program
in Cinema and Television at USC. She is my best friend, sounding board
and inspiration. I also have two dogs, Cerberus "Bear" and Ancalagon "Annie",
both of which are mutts. I am pretty sure that Bear is plotting
to take over the world, but Annie must be his Pinky-esque comedy sidekick,
because she doesn't seem to understand much more than CAT. But they
are both lovable. Paul: I am currently in the process of completely re-doing my FauxS-X (LastSTEP) Theme, for Desktop X. I am hoping to have it completely updated and have a more comprehensive use of DX Plugins, up and running before, or shortly after the 1.0 release of DesktopX. I have a few new things in the works, for the release, as well as a spin off of the FauxS-X project, FauxS-XP, that will allow for my many zoomers and plugins to fit in nicely with the new Windows XP Luna themes. I have
a list about a mile long of DX stuff I want to do, as well as looking
forward to the possibilities WindowsXP will open up for me to update my
FauxS-X Iconpackages. Paul: I think that skinning will become more and more mainstream in the future. WindowsXP is a fine example, as well as many less well-known apps. I am a bit worried about the fact that the mainstream skinning sites are going under, but I think corporate sponsored sites, such as wincustomize.com are a very promising sign, and the wave of the future of skinning. I am
of the opinion that this is a good thing, being a Capitalist. I look forward
to many more years of watching skins become more popular and more impressive. Paul: I skin because I want my desktop my way. I have fun doing it, God knows I have lost money doing it, but it is all about making quality. My advice to skinners is to develop their skins for themselves. I am not a big fan of skinning by committee, if you design the things that you do on the edge of your imagination, you will push the edge of the skinning envelope. But most of all, have fun with skinning. It's all about making something that you are proud of, and at the end of the day what's more fun than that? Please
answer Fnads's Five Paul: I am a big fan of many of the great skinners out there, I can't keep track of. All the skins by Dangeruss & Treetog that I wish I had done. I have to admit that I Mac's OS-X look and feel made me drool when I first saw it, and I have to admire the fact that they have brought the Postscript GUI to the mainstream. I find the interface too limiting, but the concept is well worth my envy. I also
will always be a fan of frogboys, since it is his objects that I tore
apart in the beginning s of DesktopX, and I would have had a harder time
of learning without them. Paul:
CorelDRAW, Photopaint, Word, IE, Winamp, & to keep be busy the
rest of the time Black & White. Paul:
The First GUI, which I have to say tainted me forever that I was blown
away by Is the original NeXTstep system. As for skins I can't name them
all. The most recent skins that has made me Paul:
Boxer-briefs, and yes I am straight. :-) Paul:
Wincustomize.com Teknidermy thanks Paul for taking time out to talk to us. Visit
his website: http://www.stardock.net/people/fauxs-x/
|
|