Pixies n Pixels

Update… Because it’s Just Polite

Front Page News, Inspiring My Art Comments Off

Mar 162012

Even More Sugar Coated by Justine Greene

I haven’t been very active on Pixies & Pixels, for the last several months. My apologies to anyone who has been visiting, looking for my brand of designing magic. I have Epilepsy, & it’s gone quite active. It began getting uppity last Summer, but I was persevering – continuing with classes, making myself a better designer, etc. However, the illness has gotten to the point where I can’t – currently – leave my house without too much to do about mostly nothing; so I’m working on my own things, on my computers (yes, I have 2..well, plus the mini tablet, which is technically a computer…oh, & some friends recently sent me a Kindle since I can’t get to the bookstore, much, anymore….& my phone…but aside from that…)

If you’d like to see a bit of what I’ve been doing for the last few months, check out my “personal playground” site, Geek’s Addiction. You may also find my current playtime passion, “Instagramming”, online. Look for GeekiePixie on any of the viewing sites, such as Follow Gram, Insta-Great or INK361. I have to take my iPhone with me everywhere, even though everywhere is mostly defined by our house, so I’ve turned it into an ongoing photo quest. I’ve been delighted to see how much intrigue & beauty you can find right in your back yard – literally – if you’re just willing to look for it.

For the truly geeky stuff I’m known for, outside the professional world, I’m still writing for GeekSpeakBlog, although not as frequently (but I’m working on changing that, at least – thank gods for publishers & authors who are sending me paranormal, fantasy & scifi books to read, but I digress…again.) I’ll be publishing a few book/series reviews in the next couple of weeks, & even an author interview, so don’t miss them.

I’ve also been doing some jewelry design & website/design work with an incredibly talented artist & special effects master, who happens to be one of my best friends, too. Look for our shop, Justiva Jewelry on Etsy;, & our website, to stay up to date on the monthly Bonus Bling promotion. (Like free jewelry? Know someone who does? Then you want to know about the Bonus Bling…but I digress…)

Thanks for stopping in at PixNPix, & don’t write me off…I’ll beat the Epilepsy, & I’ll be back. In the interim, if you do have a one shot, or a la carte job, in need of a dash of design magic, at a mundane price, don’t hesitate to e-mail me via the contact options.

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It Came From Tuskeegee

Inspiring My Art Comments Off

Sep 252011

Sometimes…. designers need to feed the little gremlins that live in the backs of their brains, who help concoct all sundry of design ideas. In other words, we have to give them free reign to do….well, do stuff like this short film. And, at least, I really do mean short……

starring Raggedy Angina

Story, voice over, filming & utter silliness by Justine Greene

Halloween Pin-up Project: Chance to Peep Under the Ghost’s Sheet & Help, Too

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Sep 082011

Kevin Scarbrough, evil genius behind the graphic design firm, Robot, Monster & Ghost Co., has proposed a bold, saucy new Halloween book. He’s looking for talent and support to bring this book into reality. Yes, we all want Kevin to get the chance to yell, “It’s Alive!”

Here’s the PDF that will tell you about the whole project; it’s a public document, and my be freely shared – indeed, we encourage sharing (because sharing is good!), as this helps spread the word.

Halloween-Pinup-Proposal download

Poor Person’s Pseudo Risotto

Inspiring My Art Comments Off

Aug 252011

Click on the recipe, to open its full size, then you can right click to save & print it, for your next “what the heck am I gonna make, tonight?,” meal night, game night, or whenever.

Musical RE-creation & Recreation Inspirations

Inspiring My Art Comments Off

Aug 162011

I stumbled about a cool band, Digital Daggers, thanks to my vampiric tendencies – watching the show The Vampire Diaries; and my love of gaming. You see, Digital Daggers recorded a couple of amazing covers for songs I already adored. For TVD, they recorded “Head Over Heels,” which was originally written, performed and released by Tears for Fears. Meandering into another geekdom, they covered “New York, New York,” popularized by Frank Sinatra, for the EA video game, Crysis 2.

This sort of thing really inspires me – not just because it’s good music – but because it’s taking something loved, and familiar, and retaining the essential “it” factor of the piece, while putting your very own spin on it. At the end of the day, that’s what a lot of graphic designers do, too. Even when presented with a new project, it often comes with requests like, “did you see Harry Potter? Can I have a snake guy like Voldemort for my cover?” Obviously, when presented with these sort of requests, we’re not just copying the original – we are making our own shiny & new original – but taking from an existing thing, to inspire our own art, and satisfy our clients at the same time, is practically an everyday occurrence in our worlds. Therefore, when I find something – music, art, poetry, commercial jingles, whatever – that succeeds in this endeavor, I find myself inspired too.

Back to Digital Daggers, though…..If you go to their site, right now, and use a nifty social networking plugin they’ve utilized, courtesy of Facebook, you can get a free download of their original song, “No Easy Way”. So, ironically, they’ve made it incredibly easy to get this song.

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