About Organic Metal...

The site was created during November and December 2000 and published on the web December 12th. It's initial purpose was to house and display my personal artworks to those interested in anime, manga, comic book, and cartoon style art. These days OM has also become a place for other artists to discuss topics on the message board and contribute their own art to the MVGC event. OM has allowed me to promote my work to companies and individuals interested in my services as a freelance artist and designer. Although OM is not primarily a commercial site, If you'd like to talk business, please e-mail me

About the design...

At the beginning of May 2004 I began work on the second Organic Metal web design, which is what you're looking at now. I worked on this new version for months up until January 2005. Click HERE to check out the first version.

It's always hard to keep the balance between loading times and "cool stuff" such as pictures, animation and sound. Typically I design static sites that will load up quick and look nice. For this version I wanted animation and sound to add to the web site experience. I'm pleased with the result and hope users find the enhanced Flash animation features are worth the wait.

I had actually have been thinking of ideas for a re-design for two years before I actually sat down and started work on it. Sometimes I'd come across other portfolio web sites that made me think, "wow"! Browsing cool sites isn't just about accessing information, but an experience. This was something I wanted achieve. My first Organic Metal web design was good enough for a static site, but I wanted to try a different approach . So over the years I'd write down notes of all the things I wanted in a re-design. These basically included more interactivity, movement and sound.

As I'm a keen game fan, I originally wanted users to be able to log in to the site, pick a character, who'd guide you around the pages and by answering quizzes and playing simple Flash or Java games, you could then access previously restricted parts of the web site. This would have been cool to try, but it was too ambitious and I figure, at the end of the day most people just want to look around and check out some art or wotnot.
I also like more abstract graphically intensive sites that look more like something out of a movie than a typical web page. The trouble with a lot of these sites is they look great, but are difficult to navigate or don't explain basically what the site is actually about!

I've tried to compromise by having the animation I wanted, but limiting it to the top and making navigation easy. The current girl mascot character on the left was never intended to be used on the site. In fact, I created other characters to be used- one a female mascot, one male character, but this one just fitted in better. I may change her in the future, but she works well

I hope you like this newest design and if you have any comments, questions, suggestions or problems about it, feel free to e-mail me.

More about the site...

Why 'Organic Metal'? I wanted to use an original and creative name. It also has a deeper meaning, generally things made from metal are considered in-organic. "Organic Metal" is something different, something new.

Please note, all graphics and art belongs to me so please don't rip off the Organic Metal web site or any of it's content. Not only would I hate you for it, but you'd be breaking copyright law. Cheers.

In the future I'd like to see big things for OM. Expect more art, more tips and tutorials, higher quality results, new ideas, more interactivity and more fun! Thanks to everyone who's visited and supported the site so far, which has generated over 300,000 hits

You might like to know...

• This site is best viewed with Internet Explorer. There might be differences with some web browsers.
• OM requires Frame, Flash & Java support. And has been designed for 800x600 - 1600x1200 screen resolution.
• The scrolling title background can be stopped by right clicking (apple click for Mac) it and unchecking "Play".
• This web page is approx 517kb in file size including Flash navigation and sound.
• The footer frame plays a 200kb, 50 second MP3 music loop.
• Some text buttons such as the top title navigation require your mouse cursor to be over them to view descriptions.
• This site can be easily added to your bookmarks by clicking the + icon left of the mascot's head.
• The mascot's voice talent was supplied by Heather Cobb.
• Music and sound supplied by James Cobb.
• Guest book, Blog and PHP scripts supplied by Rik Nicol of Wooti.

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