NEWS
8/1/2005 - Uploaded a new image, Liberty Park, today. I was really happy with this one and enjoyed making it. Please take a moment to comment and let me know what you think.
7/24/2005 - I’ve been away from art for quite a long while now. Some unfortunate changes happened in my life, and I’ve been long in recovering. I have, however, uploaded a new image, and hope to begin creating new art once again. I’ve decided to change the structure of the site to offer all images for free, and do away with paid memberships, allowing everyone to enjoy my work. If you like what you see, please take the time to tell a friend, or a few friends, about my site.
10/21/2003 - It's been a while since I posted any new images. Unfortunately, I can't spend all my days working on my art. I was determined to get something finished for Halloween though, and am quite happy with the result. In addition, I threw together another image last night called Morning Departure and uploaded that today. I also hope to be able to do a Christmas image this year that I can add to the free gallery. We'll have to wait and see on that though. Look for new 2004 calendars coming soon, and an updated NC content CD soon after the new year. Thanks for all your support everyone! :)
6/5/2003 - I've decided to move the html site back to the old design. I find that it is much more straightforward and simpler to find your way around. In addition, it doesn't make it as hard to navigate if you're on 800x600 resolution. My repaired motherboard should be coming back in soon, so hopefully I'll be able to get a new image up in the next 2 or 3 weeks....assuming nothing else goes wrong with my new computer. :(
5/29/2003 - Well, my rendering computer being down has kept me from creating new images, but it's also given me a chance to work on some other stuff using my older computer. I created a 3 new NC logos using 3 of my most popular images. I added these into the Nightscape Bazaar and, best of all, These items are being sold at cost to show my appreciation to my visitors. Click here to check them out. Thanks, everyone, for all your continuing support!
5/27/2003 - Unfortunately, I had some issues with my main rendering computer this past week. I decided it was time to upgrade some stuff. I picked up an Athlon Xp 2200 to replace my Thunderbird 800, picked up a RAID controller card and another drive to make a 160 GB RAID 5 array, grabbed a new graphics card, and a few other things. Unfortunately, after getting the whole thing setup, and finally getting my new graphics card in (it was late) I found out my motherboard had a bad AGP slot :(. It's too late to throw the old stuff back in, Windows is already reloaded and won't start with the old motherboard. So my comp is down for 2 weeks while I wait for a replacement. BTW, I went through a company called PCRapids for my motherboard and I've gotten HORRIBLE service from them (they'll actually be charging me for my return of defective merchandise!). I recomment you stay away from them if you were considering buying anything there.
5/13/2003 - I just uploaded my newest image into the free gallery and moved Lady of the Valley into the paid gallery. I hope you all enjoy this image as much as I have. It's definitely my favorite so far. I'll also be making some additions to the site soon. You should see a link to our new forum in the near future, and hopefully a Nightscape Creations CD in the products section. Stay tuned. :)
4/14/2003 - Today I added a new product to the site. The Nightscape Creations Pre-2003 Screen Saver is now available featuring all 44 wallpapers released before 2003. Click here to check it out!
4/3/2003 - As you've probably noticed by now, I've redesigned the site. I thought this would be a more interesting way to browse instead of the same boring old windows you're used to. I'll be releasing a full version of the map as a member image and as posters, shirts, and cards quite soon. Keep an eye out. If you like/dislike the new design, be sure to click here and let me know.
1/15/2003 - I uploaded 2 new animations for members last night: Orion Keys and Moonrise Tropica. You can find them in the "extras" area...enjoy!
Also, today is my birthday, so I may be unavailable til tomorrow. If you email me and don't hear back, that's why. :)
1/8/2003 - Some good news now. I just received the new serial number for our security software this morning. The members gallery is now back up and running. Also, I've had a chance to work on a number of new images lately. I uploaded one today, and I hope to add another each week for the next month or so at least. :)
1/7/2003 - Unfortunately, we are having problems with our security software. For the past 2 months we have been requesting a serial number, and they're still working on it. A few days ago, our temporary serial number expired and my members gallery went offline. It will remain offline until I can get the new serial number. Hopefully, this will only take a few more days. I apologize to all of my members that have run into problems. Thanks for your understanding…and Happy New Year! :)
12/24/2002 - I just wanted to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you all have safe and happy holidays!
12/19/2002 - Well, some good news and some bad news today. We'll start out with the good. I've been working extra hard on images lately. So I plan to put up a new paid image today and a new free one on Monday or Tuesday (consider it a Christmas present to the free members ;) ). The bad news (more for me than you) is that I'm due in for a root canal this Saturday morning, so I'll be out of action for a little while :(. If you email me this weekend and don't hear back for a little, that's why.
On a side note, everyone seems to like the idea of gift certificates as the GC page has been visited more times than my signup page. However, I've sold very few as of yet and I'm not sure why. If you're looking for a last minute gift for any computer user that's tough to buy for, I encourage you to think about a GC. It'll be delivered to them on Christmas (or whenever you choose) via email with a personalized message, and their membership won't start until they activate it. Let me know of any questions. In case I don't post another release before then: Merry Christmas!
11/22/2002 - Today I moved my image "Lazy Florida Evening" over to the free gallery, and moved "Secret Grove" into the paid gallery. The new server seems to be holding up well, but please let me know if you run into any problems. I added a guestmap to the site just a day or two ago, which should be neat to see where everyone is. Please give it a try if you have a chance. Also, I added a new free 'extra' (just click on the "Extras" tab above), which are hotbar skins featuring some of my images. Hotbar is a cool little utility that will let you add a skin to your browser, and give you some helpful buttons (backgrounds and stuff in Outlook and links to other sites related to the one you're at in your browser). Give it a try. I didn't think I'd like it, but now I'm hooked. Stay tuned for a new fantasy member image coming soon.
11/10/2002 - After much MUCH time and trouble, the site is finally moved to it's new and (hopefully) permanent home on the new server. I've also modified the member database so it's under my server's complete control. The site should run faster and smoother now. I'll be adding a new wall calendar or two soon for the Christmas season, and also hope to start offering gift certificates this month, so stay tuned for that. For now, I've added 2 new images to the paid membership gallery for you...enjoy!
10/22/2002 - Some unfortunate news. My credit card processor and password management provider, Ibill, decided to screw all their small business owners. They run a 'free' service with the only fee being 15% of the sale. However, they sent a mass email out last week and told us to pay them $750 to continue using them. I find that extremely unprofessional. Suffice it to say, I'm leaving them and moving to another cc processor. How this affects my viewers and members is that the member section of the site will be down between when Ibill cuts me off and when I can get NC moved to it's new server and setup with new software (hopefully about a week). All members will have an extra 2 months added to their membership as an apology. I will also not be accepting new signups during this time. I apologize for the inconvenience and, if any of you are considering using Ibill, email me first as I can give you a list of other companies that provide better service for less money.
10/10/2002 - Well, every holidy season I think how cool it would be to get a theme image up, but I always think of it too late. This Halloween season was no exception, but I decided to forgoe sleep in favor of getting a Halloween image created ;). I'm hoping to have it up in about a week now, giving you a good 2 weeks to enjoy it, so be sure to check back!
9/15/2002 - It's been a little while since I've posted a news release. I've been very busy lately working on my site FreeForums.net and researching some new 3D programs. I've finally decided to move on from Bryce to a more advanced 3D app, hopefully bringing you much better images (the new image Wanderer is a preview). I hope to start bringing more images out soon.
In the mean-time, I've put together a new toy for you ;). Look for "active desktop" to the left, under the "Extras" heading. It sets you up to get a new wallpaper from my free gallery each day and integrates a search engine and a few useful links into your desktop. They stay hidden until you need them so they're unobtrusive. Give it a shot.
7/20/2002 - Well, the new paid membership site is finally up, and it's up on a new faster and more reliable server. I apologize for the downtime during the move, and promise there won't be much more of that in the future if I have anything to say about it. I hope that you'll all consider signing up as paid members. I've tried to keep the cost low and will keep it there if I can get enough income to cover hosting and other costs. I also have a new image in the works that I'm quite pleased with. I'm hoping to have it finished within the next week or two plus rendering time, so stay tuned!
6/27/2002 - The new paid membership site is slated to go up sometime late next week or maybe early the week after. I'll keep my oldest 15 images available for free. Each time I bring out a new image, my next oldest paid one goes into the free gallery, and the oldest free one is put into the paid gallery. It just cycles through like that so my free gallery will always been about half a year behind the paid one. With a memberhip, you can view all images. I'll be starting my memberships at a very low price, and probably increasing them after the first month or two. That's a great chance for those of you visiting now to get a discounted price for your 6 month or year subscription. I believe I will have one more image coming out before I make the site paid, so stay tuned…
6/15/2002 - Well, I got a new image up, and this one seems to be holding a good rating so I'm glad I finally came up with one that everyone likes :). I also put up a new site just recently with Jeff from Moodflow.com called Screens Alive. It's a directory of great wallpaper sites listing the best sites first, not the most popular ones. Be sure to stop in a check it out.
6/8/2002 - Got a new image up today, be sure to take a look and rate it. We've got two new things on the horizon for NC. First, is the forum that's already set up. Be sure to stop in to talk about just about anything. I've also been posting works in progress on there, so get a sneak preview of what's coming up :). Second, No one is clicking on banners (and those that are aren't following through) so I have no way to keep NC alive. In effect, I'm going to be converting the site to a paid membership site in the next month or so. I'll still keep some 10-15 images free all the time, and I'll rotate them regularly. But all the newest images and archived images will be in the paid gallery. Paid members will also get to download screen savers, movies, and hi-quality PNGs of any image. I hope some of you will consider signing up! I promise I'll keep the membership price low to start.
5/23/2002 - Recently, myself and two fellow artists (Jeff from Moodflow.com and Dave from OmnitekDesigns.com) thought it would be cool to have a place that visitors could talk about our art, or really anything. So we ended up creating a forum together, which you can now access through the link to the left. I'll probably use the forum to post upcoming images in progress to get some feedback on where to go with them, so stop in for a sneak preview at what's coming up.
5/15/2002 - I know the site has been down a bit over the past 48 hours. We've had some major storms around here. One had winds actually classified as one rating below a tornado...and in hill-ridden Pittsburgh we're just not used to that ;). Anyway, the storms took out a lot of power and other lines that knocked NC down a few times. However, things should be about back to normal now, so hopefully no more downtime. I apologize to anyone who was trying to visit and couldn't.
5/11/2002 - I turned on the new ad system on my site last night. I decided that I would rather keep the site free for everyone to view my images. Since I couldn't do this with memberships, I decided to try using advertising to support the site costs. After you view 5 images, you will be asked to click on a banner before you can view any more. The banner will open in a new window, and your current window will be sent to the image you wanted to view. Please take the time to find a banner that interests you and follow through with it. If this doesn't work out I may need to switch the site to a paid member gallery.
5/6/2002 - Bandwidth is becoming a concern again. In the past 2 weeks I jumped from 1/2 GB/month to some 15 GB/month. I'm looking at getting a second hosting account. It looks like I will need to do something to make money just to pay for all of this bandwidth. I have considered making paid memberships which would allow the downloading of full size PNGs, movies, and screen savers. Another idea is to have viewers visit a sponsor for each 5 images they view (and offering a paid no-ad membership). I like the latter as it keeps the site free. I'd like some input from my patrons, so please E-mail me and let me know what you think. One thing is certain, I will NOT entertain any thoughts of pop-up ads...I hate those things.
5/1/2002 - Well, it's been busy lately. This month Nightscape Creations is featured as site of the month at Moodflow! If you've never been there, check it out, you'll find some awesome images. The new host seems to be stable and fast, so that much is good. I've also started up a 'site of the month'. You can find it at the bottom of every page and I will be rotating it, well...monthly =P. Be sure to check it out. Also, be sure to check out the new user gallery and support the artists there. Last but not least: A new image today :). This one is for my currently skimpy mythical gallery. I hope you enjoy.
4/23/2002 - Alright, I've got good news for a change. First, I've successfully moved to a new host, so no more broken images or bandwidth concerns (for a while at least). The domain name should be moved in the next few days so that will stop taking so long and giving errors as well. Also, I've added quite a few good sites to my "links" page, so please take a look and give a few of them a try.
4/22/2002 - As is pretty obvious by now, I redesigned the site yesterday. I hope everyone enjoys the new design. Whether you do or not, I'd love to hear whatever you think so please email me. Remember, the new site is built to look good at 1024x768 resolution. If you're using 800x600, click on the "800x600 site" link on the left.
4/17/2002 - Bad news on the hosting front. I'm up to 50 MB transferred a day which, if you do the math, adds up to 1.5 GB/month. That wouldn't worry me, except that if trends continue like they have, I'll break 5 GB/month (my limit) within another 30-60 days! I'm actively searching for another hosting company allowing more bandwidth to support the site. I'll be sure to keep you all updated.
4/16/2002 - I just found out today that on the 13th I sold my first T-shirts :)! Someone bought two shirts from Zazzle.com with my images Secret Grove and Lady of the Valley. Whoever you are, when you do get them please drop me a line and let me know how they turned out. That way I can also thank you personally for your support.
4/10/2002 - The image I mentioned earlier still has some way to go. So I disconnected one of my faster computers from the rendering group and started it rendering another image I've been working on, one that will finish much faster. I hope to have this new one up by this weekend. Sorry for the delay in new images.
4/1/2002 - The image that I was hoping would be done by now is just over 50% rendered, so it will still be a little while for that one. I do have a new scene that is almost ready to render as well now, though, so when that first one finishes a second won't be far behind. Don't forget that all of my images are available on posters, mousepads, and more. I've been told that the mousepads turn out quite nice.
3/11/2002 - I haven't had much up lately, but don't worry, I haven't dropped off of the face of the Earth. My newest scene has quite a few light sources and has been rendering for the past week. I'm estimating it won't be done until sometime late this month or early next month. Sorry about the wait, but new stuff is still coming so keep checking back!
2/25/2002 - As I'm sure some of you have noticed, the site has been up and down like a roller coaster over the past few days. I just wanted to apologize to everyone and let you know I'll be getting it fixed ASAP.
2/20/2002 - As I get more experience, images are taking more and more time to create, as I add more and more details into them. That, coupled with the fact I just got a new job, means that I'm not going to be able to keep putting up images every few days. For now it looks like I'll be pulling back to about 1-3 images each month. I apologize for all of you who are always on the edge of your seat about what my next image will be =P, but I promise that what I do put up will be of much higher quality as we go forward.
2/12/2002 - The new server is up and running perfectly. I've noticed a slight increase in bandwidth, which is always a good thing. I've also almost completed a new render for the Nature gallery. I'm extremely pleased with this one…it's definitely better than any I've done so far, or am likely to do for some time. I'll have it up soon.
2/11/2002 - If all goes as planned, I will be moving the site to the new server tomorrow morning/afternoon during which time the site will be down. I apologize for the inconvenience, but things will run much more smoothly after the switchover. Also, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who has enjoyed my work and written me about it. I'll try to have something new by the end of the week.
2/8/2002 - There's been some delays and I won't be putting up my web server until sometime this coming week. In other words, the downtime I mentioned earlier got pushed back =P. Also, I had a chance to order something from CaféPress and am pretty happy with the results. I'm going to pick up a mousepad soon too so I'll let you know how that is.
2/1/2002 - My new rendering/web server came in yesterday. I'm getting it set up right now and expect to have it online by early next week. Between now and then there may be intermident downtime with the site. Please bear with me.
1/31/2002 - I've had posters and shirts available through Zazzle.com for a while, but have been searching for a way to get other products (such as mugs) printed with my images. Recently, I ran across a place called CaféPress that will do that, so all my images can now be ordered on a mousepad, mug, totebag, poster, T-shirt, or sweatshirt :). If anyone orders one, please drop me a line and let me know how it turns out. I've not yet had a chance to see any of them.
1/24/2002 - Recently we had a bad snow storm, and I ended up getting in an accident. I tried taking a 90 degree turn, made it about 30 degrees, and then ended up in a ditch. I was only going about 5 mph so it wasn't too bad, but I still had to get the front bumper repainted. I also found out that my contract won't be renewed so I'll be out of work on the 30th :(. Anyway, I haven't had time to get much of anything else done for the site, so I uploaded a short animation I did for a friend for everyone to enjoy. It's in the movies section. I'll get more up as soon as I can.
1/19/2002 - Things have been starting to move along nicely now. By the beginning of next month, a few of my Fantasy images should be displayed on DesktopStarships.com, hopefully bringing in a few new viewers. Also, I have a new computer on order to be used solely as a rendering server. It has an Athlon 1900+ processor and 512 MBs of RAM, so hopefully I can start doing everything at full quality and maybe get a few more animations up.
1/15/2002 - Today's been an exciting day. I uploaded a new image (that has been rendering for almost 2 months) so be sure to check it out and give me comments. Also, today is my birthday, so I plan to have some fun tonight =).
1/9/2002 - I uploaded Maze yesterday for viewing, be sure to take a look at it and rate it. I've started doing some work on futuristic spaceship models, and am looking into getting a copy of 3DS Max or Lightwave to do some high-quality animations with them. Either way, I should have the fighter I've been working on done and rendered in the next week or so for you to see.
1/4/2002 - I finished picking and rendering a scene from the Portal animation. You can find it in my Sci-fi gallery.
1/2/2002 - First let me wish everyone a happy new year! I'm happy to report that today I uploaded a new image, "Excaliber", as well as a new movie, "Portal". I'll have a full size image of Portal as soon as I decide on which frame of the movie to render at full size =P. My other few computers have been working for the past few weeks on another two renders which I'm hoping will be done pretty soon. As always, if you have any comments on my images, please e-mail me…I'd really like to hear. If you use my images on your desktop, again I'd really like to know, so drop me a line…
12/20/2001 - I added a new image today called Dragon Cliffs. I was experimenting with my new dragon model. I was hoping to get a Christmas render done, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to. I apologize to anyone who might have been hoping. I wish everyone happy holidays!
12/18/2001 - Well, I've finally got the site up and some images in the galleries. I hope everyone is enjoying my wallpapers so far. There'll be lots more to come, so check back often!
|
