Jack of (Sustainable) Trades

In this episode of the Polytechnicast I share thoughts about being a "Jack of all trades", how I approach multiple hats/skills as a useful thing if it's managed in a sustainable way. 

It's a highly extemporaneous episode of the Polytechnicast, inspired by the recent podcast High Adventure Daily #97 by Kevin Cross.

Links mentioned:

• Krishna Sadasivam of PC Weenies
• Kevin Cross
• Art and Story Supreme
• Update: Kevin Cross's podcast followup which is in part a reply to this podcast.

Polytechnicast_-_Jack_of_Trades.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Games, Learning, and Inspiration

In this episode of the Polytechnicast I some inspiration I gained from a Games and Learning presentation and additional inspiration from playing some popular mobile games for the first time (Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, and Fruit Ninja).

Some links mentioned in this episode:

• Seann Dikkers site Gaming Matter (his presentation Gaming Media as an Instructional Tool should be posted soon)
• Cut the Rope
• Angry Birds
• Fruit Ninja
• Guitar Fretter

Polytechnicast_-_Games,_Learning,_and_Inspiration.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Creative Voice, Tribes, and Sustainable Trade

This episode is a journal-cast sharing thoughts about three topics I find useful to ponder as an artist: Creative Voice, Tribes, and Sustainable Trade. 

Topics and links mentioned:

• Seth Godin's Tribes
• Software Architecture 
• Rob's comic on Independent Voice (also seen in this post)

Polytechnicast_-_Creative_Voice,_Tribes,_Sustainable_Trade.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Iteration to Break Through Creative Barriers

In this episode of the Polytechnicast, I share the story of breaking through a 16 year long creative block and look forward at some goals I have for 2011.

Polytechnicast_-_Iteration.mp3 Listen on Posterous

Links Mentioned

• Babies Love Comics: Baby Adventures of Zoe Zeus
• Babies Love Comics: Article on Teaching Sleep by Kate Shields Stenzinger
• Art Geek Zoo: The Way of Sound, my web comic
• Raph Koster's Theory of Fun - (a book I enjoy about game design that's also illustrated with single-panel comics)

• Jenhannu - IGF Entry
  • http://www.igf.com/php-bin/entries2004.php?entry_id=77
  • http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:j7PB8qFmVRYJ:www.igf.com/php-bin/entries2004.php%3Fentry_id%3D77+jenhannu&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
• Guitar Fretter's Blog
• Art & Story Supreme
• Mini Comics Dumptruck (members-only forum link... likely a public link will be available soon...)
• Phone Gap - HTML and Javascript based platform for making mobile apps
• Tuned for Webkit Animation via Javascript and CSS extensions
• Corona SDK - Lua based platform for making mobile apps - very high performance for games

30 Characters Challenge 2010 - Reflection

In this episode first I share some meaning and context behind the name "Polytechnicast". Then I reflect upon various aspects of taking part of 2010's 30 Characters challenge.

Links and people mentioned:

• Tyler James
• 30 Characters Challenge
• Art & Story - the podcast that delves deep into the craft of comics and the A&S Forum where many "Storriors" hang out.
  • Bob Learned
  • Kevin Cross
  • Rene van Belzen
  • @calmplexlocust (Marshall Couture)
  • DungeonWarden
  • Jahhdog
  • KC Snipes
  • Jose Gonzalez
• Tool Force Software's ForeverSave (something I learned about from Krishna Sadasivam)
• Art Geek Zoo (my comic about a penguin, his mystical guitar friend and their adventures in The Way of Sound)
• The Baby Adventures of Zoe Zeus  (a comic project I'm creating with my wife Kate)

• 

  Polytechnicast_-_30Characters_2010_Reflection.mp3 Listen on Posterous