The last 6 pack

This year I met a new friend and graphic designer, named Will. He is a home brewing fan. We chose to a make a delicious Holiday Winter Ale, for 2009's holiday season. I decided to document the process in my blog, check the posts below! This is the final six pack that I saved for our New Years Eve party. I DJ this event with friends and family every year. Everyone loved the beer! The challenge as a graphic artist was to make our own "brand" of beer. We decided on the name "Rumble Fish", Winter Ale. First I did a pencil sketch after checking out some stuff online. Then I scanned it into Adobe Illustrator, and traced the lines to ink. I colored it and rendered it as a vector. I did some finishing touches and font work in Photoshop and printed the design on labels. I think it turned out great, both the beer and the graphic design/ marketing project!

Finishing our craft brew project.

After the sugar was added we then filled the bottles. The sugar was necessary to feed the little microbes that make the alcohol. We ended up with 48 beers and a couple of 16 ounce bottles. Enough for friends holidays and good times!

Capping the beer!

Putting the caps on the beer. Well the beer is not quite done. We put the caps on, but the yeasty critters need to eat their sugar and finish their job. So just a little bit more time, and they will be ready, for the final job cycle- enjoyment of a job well done!

The whole process of home brewing or craft brewing was a great experience, I would recommend anyone try it. Pairing beer with different meals, and trying out different ingredients in the beer to make it original is fun.

It's easier then you think, and actually affordable to but the beer making kit and the ingredient/ recipe kits too. Check out the website where we got the kit and the ingredients for our now famous Rumble Fish Beer!

Cleaning Bottles.

We bought an adapter that screws onto the faucet that makes it quick and easy to clean the bottles. First we took two 5 gallon buckets and added the sanitizer solution. The we manually cleaned each bottle as shown in this picture and let them soak in the solution. We then took each bottle out of the soaking solution and blasted them again, before hanging them on the bottle tree to dry.

After we capped each beer by hand, we gave them a quick rinse and dry, and then packed them in cases for storage.

Our "holiday winter ale" beer making kit yielded two 24 packs, and two 16oz bottles.

These need to be stores in a cool dark place and not be exposed to light or sunlight for a week. At one time during the week turn them upside down and give them a swirl to make sure the yeast is doing it's job. Look for bubbles. This shows that the C02 is being formed by the yeast eating the last bit of sugar you add to your brew, before bottling.

NOTE: wear gloves when cleaning bottles or the sanitizer will dry your hands.

This is pretty much it, when about ready you can label your beer as we are this weekend, and I will complete the micro brew blog with a pic and video of the finished product!

BEER.

56 beers, 4 people 4 days.

wall of beer.

We had a wonderful family vacation in the mountains of North Carolina. Between the birthday parties, and thanksgiving we enjoyed a bit of beer and partying.

Second fermentation & Beer label/ logo

We drained the beer from the first fermentation bucket to the second, and made a logo and label for the Beer.

Again it's Rumble Fish Winter Ale, and here is the design:

Beer wert tasting.

After boiling the beer, and then cooling it to 80 degrees in a sink of ice, you can then taste what you are making.

Kind of like a hot beer tea.

This is called wert, at this point, the hard part is done, and you can seal it, and wait.

Beer making leftovers.

Our brew is a winter ale, with two types of hops, two types of malt, and some nice spices. The smell while brewing was very nice, like a dank earthy tea.

The beer boiled for an hour, steeping the grains, and stirring occasionally.

This is a shot of the bottom of the pot, of our last chunks after the pour off into fermentation bucket.

Cooking the Beer, boiling ingredients.

We heated the nearly 5 gallons of water until a hard boil. Then we took it off the heat, and added the two malts.

Again we then boiled for one hour. At the ten minutes left mark of this second boil, I added the last spices. Finally with two minutes left of the second boil, I added the cascade hops.

Photo of Beer making ingredients outside.

Our winter ale kit had a dark liquid malt extract, and an amber. This added to it's style and it's colors and flavors.

It featured really nice cascade & vanguard hops as well as cinamon nutmeg n ginger to top off the beer with a nice spice.

This is my friend Will.

He is a web designer at our company. He has mad CSS skills.

Here he is enjoying the robust smell of the vanguard pellet hops, "mmm-azing".

This flower is a crucial element in a quality American style Ale beer.

The pellets of hops looked like rabbit food, but smelled really amazing.

Main ingredient, Beer making grains.

Here we are steeping a muslin sack tied, and full of Beers main ingredient- grains.

Our mix of barley malt grains, freshly pre cracked by our supplier.

I dunked the sack of grains, for awhile, and then stirred it on occasion while boiling.

This process went on for some time.

This is a real good time to be drinking other beer. If you have mad skills, you can even grill simultaneously!

That's right we made our beer in a 5 gallon pot on top of the side burner, of our heavy duty gas grill.

Beer Cooking pot, and thermometer.

Step one- bring 2.5 or more gallons of water to a boil or about 155 degrees.

This is our cleaned pot. We chose to do this on the outdoor grill, it can get smelly, but if that's ok with you, feel free to do this indoors.

Beer making ingredient list.

This is the ingredient list for our Winter Ale, Beer.

It was listed as a Happy Holiday Ale.

Sounded nice to me.

Ingredients for Beer.

The happy holiday ale at midwest brewers.

I opened up the pack earlier to check for everything and chill the yeast activation pack.

Here is a pic of all the ingredients.

Will the brew master/ web master holds up the Beer Kit.

Will the Web/ Brew Master holds up the

botteler, siphon & thief.

Primary and Secondary fermenters.

The beer making kits primary and secondary fermenter.

Make sure they are cleaned and sanitized.

Store them in a clean sealed container

when not in use.

Beer kits are cheap, buy one today!

Beer making kit- in a box!

This is the brewers best deluxe equipment kit. Other then the fresh ingredients, this is all you need to make beer at home! Do try this at home!

Yahoo pipes aggregation tool.

I have recently been using a great new internet resource called Yahoo Pipes.

Pipes are easy to use, get started here.

Experienced web developers have used some type of news feed aggregator, and others might have used one, with out even knowing it. Take my page for example, this is a Google Blogger Blog. In my admin panel, I have the option of choosing news feeds. I keep up on the big three, Microsoft, Apple and Google. This is through an aggregator. Also on this page is a Web/ Graphic Designer job post resource from Yahoo Pipes.

Pipes allows you to pull data from the web from a variety of built in tools, and then "pipe" them into your own source, which can then be easily shared and configured to display the data in a variety of ways.

I use them for my current company I am working for, to display news feeds for the CAD CAM industry from a variety of sources. Instead of going to various feeds, or reading my syndicated rss feeds, I can get all this data in one place, and share it with our web visitors. See this Cad Cam news feed here.

I am testing out some other valuable cloned and customized pipes for flickr photos and google videos. The cool thing about pipes, is that there are many already created, and if you publish and share yours, then other people can view the back end code, and learn how its done.

This can be beneficial for SEO purposes, as you can have relative key word data, auto populate the sights you are working on. This adds value to the site, for search engines, but also to your clients, and web public as they can get valuable info from your site, and that gives them a reason to come back, instead of looking some place else for this info.

In summation, Yahoo pipes are a great resource, anyone seeking to collect and share content from multiple sources should check out.

Eminem

Eminem’s New Music Video Features Star Trek, Robots

Posted using ShareThis

illustrator practice super hero words & logos

Sometimes, you need to make a name or logo look huge and well, kind of like a super hero. Here is a rendering for www.bobcad.com the company I cam working for now.

The super hero effect!

illustrator practice sunny day cartoon

Knowing how to draw basic shapes with the pen tool, and coloring them with gradients, makes it easy to make cartoon style drawings with Illustrator. This one is perfect for a greeting card.

illustrator practice RSS FEED, 3D gear

Here is a 3D gear for the tech look.

illustrator practice RSS FEED

Most sites these days have an RSS feed icon, I put a slight angle on mine, and a slight glow and drop shadow. It is designed to pop off of a colored page.

Illustrator practice

I had been so busy running the E-news letter and designing new sites at work lately, I decided to take some time to brush up on my Illustrator skills.

Here are some sample files.

Knowing how to do the 3D bars and blocks is good for styling statistical charts and graphs, and what corporate web project is complete with out glossy buttons?

Being funny at the office.

Avas B-Day get away.

chillin at the "picabu" cafe. avas being so funny!

yummy!

For breakfast, I had plates of food that look like happy faces!

avas b day breakfasts!

This message has been sent using the picture and Video service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, Quicktime@ 6.5 or higher is required.

Drum and Bass EP Release

New Release for Technorganic Recordings.

Genre: Drum and Bass

Title: "Take this and Die, EP part 2"

this is a collaborative effort release featuring all Russian up and coming DJ / producer talent!

Lots of energy and passion in these tunes. Good use of techno and organic elements. Headed by Acid Rain, and always showcasing excellent drum edits, and unique samples this is a must have EP of powerful tunes for any cutting edge, drum and bass DJ.

It is available as an album on Beatport so check it out!

social updates...

My updates and presence on my social sites, has been really bad the past month, but thats ok!

It's because I got a great full time job that I really love.

I am part of the marketing team for a CAD CAM software company.

they have a good crew, it's close to my house, and the product is solid.

I am happy to be working, for a company I like, with products I respect.

I am learning a lot about how so much is designed and made using CNC machines and CAD CAM software.

Mac based design and marketing software

<== sample image produced by me with Art Text is 6 seconds!

Attention companies! 

Ever wonder how graphic designers like me, make those cool shiny and glossy "Web 2.0" styled logos and designs? Does it frustrate you that as soon as you make a nice new logo, the web standards and trends change, and your logo looks dated? Don't have a fast and reliable designer like me in your area? Do you wish you could work with some simple and affordable software that makes it easy for you to create these modern styled logos, font stylings and designs, just like the pros?

Well now you can!

<== sample image produced by me with Art Text is 4 seconds!

Right here, in my blog, for those of you lucky enough to come across this post, I am going to share one of my most powerful graphic design secrets!

Are you ready? It's a program called Art Text!

Wait- please pay attention, this is a MAC only program! 

Please don't hate, appreciate. This is a very powerful and easy to use program that will allow you to create the stylized text, and modern looking designs that are all over your competitions websites and marketing materials, all by yourself. So if you own a MAC, are a graphic designer, or need to make logos youself, look no further then this program! Check out Art Text for your self, by clicking here.

I have been using Art Text for several months, and I truly love it and highly recommend it. The program is affordable, works fast, and is super easy to use. You do not need to be a super star graphic designer like me to start making amazing designs.

Here is what the people at Belight Software, the creators of Art Text, have to say about it:

Why use Art Text?

• Headings and other text graphics created with Art Text will make business presentations catchy.
• Attractive buttons and cool titles will make your web site look stylish and professional.
• Various logos and icons can be easily created to enrich your brochures, flyers and postcards.

<==sample image I made with art text in 5 seconds!

I could add tons of things to this list, but basically in my personal experience, what this program does is- it really speeds up the production cycle for cranking out this kind of work.

 Many of my graphic design friends have asked me: "Can you do what Art Text does in Photoshop"? Yes of course you can, but not everyone can afford Photoshop, or take the time necessary to learn all of its powerful features. With Art Text, you simply download the program, start using it- and within a few minutes you have a great design- it is truly that easy.

So there you have it, one of my best graphic design secrets for all my blog readers, and clients. 

Remember it is a MAC program, so if you use PC's and there is nothing wrong with that- you will simply have to rely on me to make all of your awesome looking font designs and shinny buttons!

SEO and SEM

In the last several months, I have been really working hard to master the basics of SEO and SEM. 

SEO or Search Engine Optimization, in my words is doing the simple but effective things with your HTML code in an effort to optimize and target your potential website audience.  The book I have been following, and recommend is by Kristopher Jones, who runs Pepperjam, a very respected SEO and SEM company. You can pick it up at any retail book store like Borders, or Barnes and Noble, or of course at the large online bookstore Amazon. 

Also if your a small company, and don't have the time or the budget to learn, implement, test and perfect these tasks, you can also contact me directly via email, or through my website, as I would be glad to help! These efforts of SEO are a combination of developing organic search listings, as well as pay per click campaigns, to successfully compete for keywords that relate to your business, and to get more people to go to your website.

SEM or Search Engine Marketing, is the various outbound marketing efforts a company employs to target its many different types of potential customers to very specific pages or landing pages on their site. To illustrate if your company offers more then one product or service, it is important to market specifically to each individual customer and not generically to all customers. This becomes more difficult the larger the company and the more products and services they offer. 

Simply being specific with your HTML code, and doing individualized marketing are not enough, a company must also combine traditional marketing into their web based marketing efforts. A new technique that I am working on for the companies I serve is called PURLS, or personalized URL's. This in marketing terms is the best of both worlds. PURLS is personalized urls. This is the process of doing direct mail and or physical marketing, that is very specific, even down to a per customer basis. Each physical item that is delivered to them has it's very own unique  personal(ized) url, or PURL. This way you can test and measure specific marketing strategies to each and every customer and find out what they like, or don't like. You can see what they respond to and what motivates them to find our more about your company's products and services. As the internet becomes more crowded, and more and more people compete for keywords, and search engine rankings, the more we have to balance traditional marketing and targeted marketing.  

While this all might sound like a daunting task, it happens to be very exciting for me, as I have a traditional marketing background, and work hard at learning new techniques to help my clients on the digital frontier.

Should you have any questions about what I can do to help you with SEO or SEM, and help turn more people onto your website, and it's various products and services please contact me through my website: www.lewisdavidson.com. Together we can develop the traditional physical marketing and branding components, optimize your website, and then deliver a PURL campaign with customized tools to study your customers needs wants, and desires, saving you time, money and most importantly making your valued customers happy, by giving them exactly what they want.

coming home from a day on the water

The view from the back of the pontoon boat, coming home...

Ava, happy on the water.

This is a great pic! Ava happy and smiling on the water! She got to play with fish and enjoy the sites. Sunshine is good for kids, and she is a beach girl for sure.

The cutest thing, is when she would watch a scallop open up in her hand. That was awesome.

I like pontoon boats, as thy are safe, and stable and it's like being out on the patio, but on the water.

We had a great time!

on the boat, w/ Captain Sonny

This is my good friend and neighbor Sonny. He is a native born Floridian. Occasionally when I am lucky I get to go out on the boat with him. We always have a great time. We fish, and enjoy the beauty of nature, nothing beats being out on the water with good friends.

on the water, I love Florida

This photo is from the back of my neighbor/ friends pontoon boat. His name is Sonny, and he took my daughter and me out on the Ocean, and island hopping. As always it was amazing. I got some sun, and fresh air, and Ava got to catch fish, a scallop and enjoy the beach.

Being able to go out on the water and to the islands in Florida is as good as it gets, we are so blessed!

chameleon in nature

There is a little lizard in this photo. He is an anole, but in Florida they are called chameleons. I was at the park, breathing, and meditating to calm my mind. I saw this guy on the rocks by the steps. He was not scared of me at all, so I slowly moved in for this photo.

I love nature, and appreciate his colorings to help him  blend into the rocks and the environment. We looked at each other, eye to eye for some time, and we had our moment.

My cell phone is the series 1, envy from Verizon. Overall it is a good phone, great for texting, but the view screen is small, so it is sometimes hard to judge the shot before you post it!

Ava riding a pony

ava riding a "pony"

This simple little toy makes a little girl so happy!

Nacho lunch!

Earth Day treat

What earth day is complete with out a yummy treat!

Here we are supporting a local family business that serves a small organic farms ice cream and frozen yogurt.  

We had a great time, and this was the perfect way to cap it off. 

It runs in the family.

Look Mom- it (skateboarding) runs in the family!

Here is a short video of enthusiastic Ava- scooting around on a skateboard. This was her first time, and we took it easy, focusing on balance and fun!

Like father like daughter.

I spent a good portion of my life skateboarding.

Here is a pic of my daughter on a skateboard for the first time.

We were smart and put on elbow pads, gloves and a helmet.

It was good exercise for her, keeping her balance, and working her arms, to move around. She was even turning. Ava did great as like most things in life, attitude makes all the difference. She won that battle, again and really enjoyed herself!

Photo editing software

Are you a blogger, or photographer? Own a Mac? Want to do a little more with your photos, but don't need all the muscle of photoshop?

Consider: Image Tricks.

Made by Belight software, it is a powerful program, but very easy to use, and runs quick, so it is great for Bloggers, or Mac based photographers, who need a bit more effects then what iPhoto allows. Many of the images you see on this blog, are edited and tweaked using this program.

Check out Image Tricks the Mac based photo editing software here.

Natures beauty, is appreciated by children.

Ava picked this. She said it looked like the flower from Horton hears a Who, movie an Dr. Seuss Book. I am learning a lot from this Child. She is patient, and notices things most of us miss. there is beauty all around us, and I appreciate the blessings this child has brought to my life- to take it slow, and notice the details of the journey!

Hot new DNB Single just released on Beatport!

This is a great release!!!! The Style is: electronic/ Dance file under:

DRUM AND BASS!

You will love the spacey trance elements and influence on this release!

Check it out on Beatport.com/labels/technorganic

right now!

See what other DJs bought, that mix well with these tunes, and more.

The rest of the palm / tiki art crew- Jungle Style!

Here is the rest of my recycled art jungle crew.

Compared to my sisters, the white elephant sucks! But i did run out of paint, and do intend to make it better. 

The zebra and giraffe need paint to.

Needs more black and white, and some jewels and details to bring them to life.

My daughter and I will finish these soon, and her elephant is the best of all, so I am saving it 'till we are done!

more cool 'recycled art'

Tiki Mon art dude.

This one is my favorite, as he is colorful and kind of traditional. I might add some more black details for emphasis and emotion, but we will have to see how he stands out at the Tiki Bar first!

The palm trees were just sitting there, and i kept seeing these creatures in them. All of this was inspired by my sister Chris, who owns a restaurant called the White Elephant Pub in Englewood Beach, FL. She is a great artist and made a white elephant out of palm bits, and i was so inspired I tried to make more, but I ended up with these creatures instead.  

My sisters are much better, and you should check out the PUB! It's right on the beach and has great food, drinks, music and views of the bay!

Art made from palm tree bits n junk paint.

This one is creepy cool and inspired by a combo of traditional African Art, and English hot cross buns?

Cool art made from recycled junk!

After my mom took my daughter Ava and I to the art show a couple weekends ago, I was inspired to make some art myself!

This is made from recycled paint n palm tree scrap. The palm tree pits are tough and hard to cut and fit in the trash, so I decided to make some "tiki" style art out of them. 

James the neighbors son, seemed bored, so Ava and I invited him over, to work on art with us. He followed my design template and created this amazing leopard head!  

New web site live for video production client

I did this site is for an LA based Video Production and Motion Graphics company.

The site is a modern clean CSS based design to feature their high end production facility.

Titus Productions services high end video clients, and is really busy, they needed, a clean modern high end site, that showcased their current promo reel and made it easy for people to find and interact with them on the web.

They have helped me with video production work, and consulting.

If you are in the need of high end, video production, editing, flash or motion graphics, check out their site, and ask for John.

Click here to visit Titus Productions.

Be sure and tell them Leiws of: www.lewisdavidson.com referred you!

New site in production

New Technorganic Recordings Music Release!

This is a two song single of Drum and Bass music,  just released and available here: Beatport

The artist is named: C qnz

The catalog number is TECODD0026

Track names: Alpha and Omega, and Alien Prayer.

These are both fast high energy electronic dance songs, in the drum and bass music genre.