The Ghost of GhostCaps
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
(To be fair, I Think Hugh suggested this at one point, although I had already planned on it…)
Yesterday’s ghost was a foreshadowing. Yes, today is the last day of GhostCaps.
Today is the one year anniversary of my little illustration project. This is the 366th ghost image. I started GhostCaps as a challenge to myself: Could I come up with a new image every day and somehow keep it fresh? Well, I didn’t quite succeed on either count. As my regular readers (are there any??) have seen, I wasn’t always entirely punctual. Saying that ‘life gets in the way’ seems a bit funny in this context, but that’s the way things go. On freshness, although I’m happy with many of these images, I’m also kind of disappointed. They are often times overly simple and maybe don’t convey the most interesting of ideas. But I’ve got to give myself a break here - 366 is a big number. All things considered, I think I ended up alright (and I also ended on time!).
So what did I learn? I got to know my brushes and my pens more intimately. I figured out new ways to color in photoshop. Actions became my dear friends. But I also became tired of producing simple images every day. Doing this just made me want to do the opposite - take longer on images and try and make them more interesting and intricate. Still, it was a good challenge and, aside from a couple of times when I had “ghost block,” it was kind of fun, too.
I would like to thank a few people. First of all, Chad for pushing me to do this and helping me set up the site. Also Tushar for hosting. My regular readers and idea contributers including Tony, Hugh, Jord and Erin, and other readers like Jay and Mary and whoever has been following these on Flickr (Aaron and Dan). Are you a regular reader and I didn’t mention you here? That’s because you’ve never (or barely ever) commented or made suggestions. I was hoping to get more in the way of these two forms of feedback, but I’m happy that I at least had a few regulars. Thanks!
So it’s really over. What’s that? You wanted something more out of this whole thing? Maybe something tangible? Well here’s what I’ve got… First of all, I’m going to try and set up some system where I will make prints of any and all of my ghosts for sale here on the site. Is anyone interested in this? Please comment and let me know, or just email me with order info and I can try and get the ball rolling that way. Secondly, I’m planning on (some day) compiling all of these images into a book. Keep your ears and eyes open for more news on that one. Third, I still have some of my old “123Ghost!” shirts available on my website here. I guess that’s all I have to offer for now.
Well, I guess that’s it from me, then. As mentioned, stay tuned for info on prints and book. Again, thank you to all of my readers for checking out this little project. I’m going to go kick back a Dead Guy Ale to celebrate.
Oh, also, if you’d like to see all 366 ghosts in a nice big grid, check the set on Flickr here. (Note: the order isn’t completely chronologically accurate over there)
-Jon
