Goal #56 - Tweet 100 times on one day.

YAY!! I finished another one of my goals. It was an easy one though, I'll admit to that. I actually thought that it was going to be way harder. Anyways, you can see [the big red circle] on the first picture the amount of tweets I had when I started, 2,015, and the time it was [the big red arrow]. Keep looking to see me reach 2,115.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

 

  

  

  

  

 

It's funny because you can also see everything else that I was doing while at work, really important duties you know like Gmail, Polyvore, etc.. I think I became addicted, right now I have 2,346. Maybe I was addicted already.. *sigh*

Remember to follow me on twitter, if you're not already.. Kisses XOXO

Designer Interview - eNTROPY

Interview with designer Guillermo Cummings for the line eNTROPY.

I love finding new designers, and seeing what they're creating and learning how they're getting inspired. That's why we now have Designer Interview. I will be interviewing amateur designers and giving YOU the scoop on what they're doing and what's new. Here we have Guillermo Cummings for the line eNTROPY.

Since when have you been interested in creating/designing?

Well to be honest I never saw myself as a designer till a few months ago. I was always interested in illustration, comic book art and storyboarding. One day out of the blue I put up a random design for my fraternity and sister sorority. Suddenly almost everyone wanted a shirt out of it. I then started doing some small designs for other fraternities and sororities, usually the basics: the 3 Greek letters in the front and a catchy logo in the back. Eventually I got tired of that and inspired by modern t-shirts usually seen from Volcom, Quicksilver, Billabong etc. I decided to try something new and designed a modern looking design for my fraternity, after that people suggested I try my own designs. After a stressing search for a logo and name I decided on Entropy, and the rest is history.

How (and where) did you learn to design?

Well once again, I was always more intro illustration than actual design, so credit I guess has to go to my late uncle Amadeo Pino. He was an arquitect here in Puerto Rico, and he taught me the basic elements of drawing, and also my years at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale where I learned how to work with composition and color theory.

Where do you find your inspiration?

I usually just put up the blank canvas and just free style it but once in a while usually when it comes to fraternity and sorority designs I use what I know of the organizations, and manipulate somethings to make them work. Usually colors or symbols they are known for. Also good friends who give me some critiques help a lot, as I usually see it one way, and others see it another.

Where do you want to go with this?

I would love for Entropy to become a top clothing line in the future, and mentioned in the same breath as Volcom, Quicksilver, Billabong, etc. Especially coming out of Puerto Rico, because we have such a strong surfing, and skating culture that is really untapped when it comes to local clothing lines. Globally it would take sometime but for now becoming well known locally is my main goal. I'd also love for people to see the designs as art just as they see it as fashion. Deep down I'm an artist not a fashion guy, this is all new to me and it came out of the blue. Also, while I may be starting out with shirts, the plan is to further down the line (soon but when possible) expand to pants, swimsuits, dresses, caps, hoodies, jackets and every apparel you can imagine.

Have you had any challenges while pursuing your goals so far?

Oh of course, just like with any venture there will be hurdles. The first one was the automatic fear if the designs were good, especially the female ones but luckily they all got 90% good feedback. Another one, especially in the economic crisis we are dealing with it is capital but slowly that is fading away. But the major challenge is the unknown, what will happen when this hits the streets, will it become profitable? Will it just be a one hit wonder? Will I be able to adapt to the ever changing styles? It's a risk but life is boring if you don't take those risks.

Do you have any advice for aspiring designers out there?

Ask for critiques, some artist hate having the work criticized especially from people who aren't artists but when you ask the people you're marketing too, its always good to get some feedback. While you may not agree, always remember we see the art/design/piece differently than anyone else does and usually a second opinion let's you see things you normally wouldn't. In the end though trust your instincts, we where born with them for a reason.
As told to Ambar for Ambar's Thoughts.

Here are some of my favorite designs from eNTROPY.

I particularly love this cute tank top.

 

Guillermo Cummings

Find me on Twitter: entropypr

email: guillephmzmg@gmail.com

Making Your Blog Fashionably Professional

I will start by saying that I am not a very computer oriented person. Yes, I use my computer all the time [remember how I don't watch TV] but I don't think Facebook, Twitter and MSN Messenger count. So venturing into having my own blog, the way I wanted it and actually making it work has been hard but extremely fascinating at the same time. I have learned so much about computers, the blogsphere, gadgets, widgets, and all things imaginable. I will now share all this knowledge with you. Hopefully this will b ethe first of many posts to come, since I hope to keep learning. Actually programming makes me feel all important and computer savvy.

I am going to post a link to all the sites I'm using at the moment to make my blog fashionably professional, and also, to the ones I've found so far on my journey this past couple of days.

Background

I think everybody should start by picking a background. STOP right here if you want a three column page layout like mine, you should change that first. See it doesn't make sense to go looking for a background, fall in love with it, and then realize that you want three columns instead of two, because then that background won't work anymore. Go here if you want to do that. You will also find how to remove the border lines behind headers, how to remove lines between your sidebar items, how to remove the navigation bar on the top [all of which I did] and a lot more other tricks that you can do to customize your blog.

Now, if you decided that two columns is fine for you, I did found a great place, shabbyblogs.com where you can get your background, blinkies, buttons, and all that extra shabby stuff.

Networking

We all know how to network, at least a lil' bit, I mean, who doesn't have Facebook, and/or Twitter? But the thing is, it doesn't stop there. Yes, you should definitely market your blog everywhere possible, but I found some blog targeted communities, that happen to be really useful [so far], so go take a look, and see if they work for you. There's technorati and blogcatalog where yo can claim your blog, as well as meet other bloggers, aheemm, increase traffic, anyone? I really like blogcatalog, it has really cool widgets that you can add to your blog, as well as groups you can join, and you can friend other bloggers, etc.

Widgets

I don't have a fancy definition of what a widget is, but if you know how to use blogger, you probably know already. They're all those little things you can add/remove from your blog (the archives, your profile, AdSense, polls, lists, etc) in order to customize it. Two of them that I'm using right now and I really like are LinkWithin which links related posts, and the AddThis button, which lets you do just that, add your blog to other places.

Google Tools

They're FREE! So take advantage of them. Google AdSense and Google Analytics. AdSense makes you earn money just for blogging... I know! They choose the ads for your page and everything, and Google Analytics, well they analyze pretty much everything for your page. You can see how many visits you got, how much time visitors spent on your page and all that good information that helps you be a better blogger.

I think I covered all the basics, because like I said, I am no expert and I'm also just starting, so this will save you days of searching, investigating, and reading to see what works, and what not, or where to find all those cool things, everybody seems to have, but you can't find anywhere.

Extras

Some other useful links. Enjoy

Pro Style Bloggers
My Blog Makeover
How To's For Your Blog
Make Money Blogging
Blog Tips
Blogs By Women
Templates