Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The new Art Of Otaku is coming along well. The design is 100% finished and most of the launch tutorials are in. It's now just a matter of coding and editing. Hopefully we can get it out the door mid/late January.

I really adore the new AOO, but it is an unparalleled risk. One, it's so different than the original and two, the price will be a bit scary (but worth it).

When it comes down to it, I only have two surviving babies (and dozens of deceased ones) after almost a decade of web stuff: theOtaku/myOtaku (I consider them one entity) and Art Of Otaku. I'm the biological father of OB, but James has raised it/done all the parenting :).

I'd like both the new AOO and theOtaku/myOtaku to stand and grow without my supervision. I think that's the proudest moment for a parent.

Once the new AOO is established, I will have two options:

(1) Keep theOtaku/myOtaku roughly the same and create a structure so it goes forward incrementally without me, under new leadership. Then work on something new or take a break.

(2) Triple my efforts, revamp and upgrade everything, and create a deviantart-killer :-). I love challenges and this path fulfills that requirement.

Either way, I think theO and myO need a new and unified design.
Comments (7) | Permalink

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Research Question
Is theOtaku the #2 art sharing site online, by popularity?

I know DeviantArt is #1, but according to Alexa we're higher than both SheezyArt and Tokyopop.

I've googled but can't find any other art sharing websites that are close to our numbers.

Some research please? It would be pretty amazing if we really were #2...
Comments (9) | Permalink

Sunday, December 17, 2006

One Feature I'd Love
It might be very annoying to do technically but I'd love to see how many raw "views" a piece of fan art receives.

Votes are a good indicator of popularity, but I'd bet that less than 1 out of 100 people actually take the time to vote.

It's much more encouraging to see that your piece was viewed 200 times versus if it was only voted on twice.

I know on theOtaku's main page, over 6,000 unique people visit it every day, but even the biggest news items will only have 100 or so comments.
Comments (13) | Permalink

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Who Will Be # 100?
Our breast cancer awareness contest will hit its 100th submission sometime in the next 12 hours. It's been a great ride so far and I hope to see 150 works by the 20th.

The great thing about the contest isn't just the number of submissions, it's the people who view the submissions. Tens of thousands of people have viewed at least one of the entries. It's so much more effective than say, a poster ad on a train stop, to bring about awareness or to encourage thought.

One side effect of this contest is I'm getting emails from people asking if I can help promote other causes as well. It's flattering, of course, but we'll see how AnimeFF goes...

Right now my #1 goal is to spoil our artists here. If I can sometimes align that goal with the goal of helping charitable causes, then absolutely :-).
Comments (8) | Permalink

Friday, December 15, 2006

Reason #3728 I Rock
I have secret santa tomorrow at work...didn't have wrapping paper, so I came up with the idea of using aluminum foil from my kitchen. Works great :-).

PS: I bought a rapid fire nerf gun with glow in the dark darts. How cool is that?
Comments (12) | Permalink

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Without Exception
Here's a page from my business book for artists; I wrote it last night. What do you think?

In management theory there’s a big no-no called “management by exception.” While you might not know what the phrase means, you’ve certainly encountered the concept. Picture yourself…

 In a classroom. Your t-shirt is moist and your fingers snap a little too often. Last week you handed in your best self-portrait yet and are awaiting its safe return. “Here you go” your teacher mutters and drops the piece on your desk, face-up. A bold, red “95%” reflects your relieved smile. You snatch the drawing with both hands and start to scan. “Elbows too skinny,” “eyes too wide,” “proportions off,” “lips generic,” and so on. Despite the fact you received an almost perfect grade, there’s not a single word of positive feedback.

 In a work environment. You’re thrilled when a new client calls you on referral and agrees to your commission terms without delay… The project starts off well enough, but stalls after the client keeps changing his mind. “I don’t know what I like, but I do know what I don’t like” he’d often say. Four weeks pass. You finally finish and the client is happy with the piece. Do they compliment you? No: “What took you so long?”

 With your significant other. Your significant other loves you, and it’s for a good reason. You perform 90% of your relationship duties with diligence, wit, and flair. Why is it then that 90% of his or her time is spent nagging you on the couple things you do poorly?

When someone is in a position of influence over someone else, there’s a tendency to want to institute change. Change by itself is fine, as long as it’s kept in perspective. The more you focus on negative things in another person, the more nitpicks you’ll find. Soon you’ll completely ignore all the person’s positive traits and will freak out at the smallest grievance.

Here’s a golden rule: If the recipient is performing 90% of their duties well, then 90% of the feedback and focus should be positive!

There’s nothing better than positive feedback. The recipient feels exhilarated afterward, they’re more receptive to constructive feedback, and they’ll keep doing what they’re doing. Negative feedback on the other hand, tends to aggravate people and it hardly ever works in the long-run. Most importantly, negative feedback never helps to build relationships.

You should strive to manage others without exception. More importantly, you should strive to manage yourself without exception. How many times do you kill yourself over one failure in a sea of successes?
Comments (11) | Permalink

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Fan Art Share Box
What do you think?
Comments (13) | Permalink

Monday, December 11, 2006

This graph makes me feel good:



This one, even better:



Yeah, DeviantArt has all art and not just anime, but still, that's a lot of room to grow! I'd rather be a small player in a big market than the biggest player in a small market.
Comments (11) | Permalink

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Ask Adam: Special Edition #2
Dear Adam,
you have been chosen to participate in my own little contest called,friend of the month.If you don't get it or want more details than e-mail me,but if you don't want to do it then e-mail me.if you are choosen than i will send you a e-card.

Ack! No matter what option I choose, I have to send an email. It's a forked road with both paths converging on one destination. How clever...
Comments (5) | Permalink

Saturday, December 9, 2006

Ask Adam: Special Edition
"I can pay you for ad space on this page: http://www.theotaku.com/anime/excel_saga/

The ad would be for excel to PDF conversion software. Please let me know if you are interested."

Sounds good. There's a huge crossover audience between fans of Excel Saga and Microsoft Excel. Time to make an Access Saga hub...
Comments (6) | Permalink