TEKNIDERMY - ISSUE 8: February/March 2002

Spotlight On: Starving Artist
by Jumbles

Stanley Sy(aka Starving Artist)  has recently become many people's favourite ICQ Plus skinner.

Tek: Where do you live?
Stan: I'm currently residing in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Tek: Where does your history in art begin? Were you a "scribbler" as a child?
Stan: Oh yes, very much. I always loved drawing things when I was young. I got
into comic books later on, which inspired me to try using computer graphic
applications to color my lineart.

Tek: What is your system like (hardware, memory, monitor, etc.)? 
Stan: I have a couple of old PCs... My current system specs: Pentium III 450 MHz,
17" CRT, 256MB, 12GB, 64MB GeForce 2 GTS and Windows XP.

Tek: Do you have a favorite program(s) you use to create skins? 
Stan:  I tend to use Adobe Photoshop a lot. When I want to do a quick "sketch", I
usually open an icon editor, like Microangelo. ColorPad has really helped me
out on a number of occasions too.

Tek: What methods do you use for inspiration,prior to designing a new skin?
Stan: I love scanning through newspapers, magazines and various other sources.
I'm also a night person, so that's when I'm most creative and motivated.

Tek: What is your skinning process like (do you create sketches, and develop them, as in suites, etc.) 
Stan: Most of my skins start from a template that I create in Photoshop. I usually
have a particular program in mind by then. Most of my work is pixel
pushing, so I technically sketch" using the pencil and line tools until I
get the look I want.
From there, I just cut up the skin to make it work. I usually don't create a
suite all in one batch. I just concentrate on one skin until I get it right.
If I like the results and think it'll work, I'll try to port the design over
to other programs.

Tek: Is skinning/digital art your full time career? 
Stan: Yes, sorta. =) I'm a web designer by day. My other love is web design...
fooling around with html/css/javascript, making nice clean code.. and then
melding that with a nice user interface. =)

Tek: Do you have a family (kids/wife/dogs, cats)? 
Stan: I don't have any spouses, pets or siblings. I'm still going through
university. Hence, the "starvingartist" name. =)

Tek: Can you tell us what you are working on right now?
Stan: I'm secretly working on a revamped Sakura for ICQ, and I'm hoping to use all
the terrific new ICQ Plus 3.2 features.

Tek: How did view the future of skinning?
Stan: At it's simplest, skinning will give the user what they want. Right now,
most of the focus is on form. This is mostly due to close-source operating
systems having to deal with support nightmares when dealing with skinning
and alterations to the UI. Windows XP and Mac OS X have restricted any major
changes to the UI (like changing the location of the close button in the
titlebars). 
As the public gets use to the idea of skinning (with apps like
Winamp and WMP), companies will be more open to the concept of skins.
Restrictions will also be lessened, and tools to take advantage of this will
increase.
This increased freedom will allow people to change the usability of a skin.
You no longer have to stick to the same paradigm. Instead of just changing
the look, you're going to be able to change the skin's ease of use or add
the functionality you want.

Tek: Do you have any any advice for us skinners? 
Stan: Don't ever be discouraged. There's also plenty of skinning communities
around you can be a part of. They're not just places were you can upload and
download skins, but places to meet people and learn from them.


Please answer Fnads's Five 

What skin do you wish you'd designed/written?
I think the Mac OS 8/9 UI is just amazing. I also love Essorant's designs.

What would you like to have on your laptop if you were stranded on an island,
e.g., skins, music, proggies, peripherals, games, etc?

I'd actually love to get my hands on one of those funky clean iBooks. And
then have it loaded with a bunch of carbonated OS X apps and games.

Have there been any skins that have made you laugh? Cry? orgasm?
Sorry, no =)

Boxers or briefs? (or, which do you prefer ?)
Briefs. =)

List some sites you visit daily, weekly, hourly...
Weekly: A List Apart (http://www.alistapart.com), DevShed
(http://www.devshed.com), Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com)
Daily: Slashdot (http://www.slashdot.org), Scott Andrew
(http://www.scottandrew.com), Blogger (http://www.blogger.com), Tweak3D
(http://www.tweak3d.net)
Hourly: DeviantART (http://www.deviantart.com)


Teknidermy thanks Stan for taking time out to talk to us. 
Check out his website at
http://stanleysy.tripod.com/

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