What’s New?

I've added some new material to my Brain Dump section, where I share code and ideas.

Over three year‘s worth of Grumbles is archived here!

I’ve been having fun with Apple's Dashboard lately, and came up with a few totally useless Widgets of my own.

There are new illustrations on the Illustrations examples page.

I’ve added a new page to show examples of Flash Animation.

I’ve made a new page to direct folks to my recent comic book work.

I’ve updated my Interactive examples page.

If you're interested in generating random nonsense phrases, you might want to check out this or this.

Who am I?

I’m an illustrator, graphic designer, motion graphics designer, and 3D artist who has done magazine illustration, television graphic packages, special effects, comics, Flash animation, interactive design, and so much more.

I’m also the creator of Grumbles, a weekly color comic strip about politics, petty annoyances, culture wars, the apocalypse, bad drivers, hypocrisy, and life in the USA, as seen from the viewpoint of a grumbly, somewhat idealistic middle-aged man. The tone is progressive in nature, but tempered by an ironic sense of humor, and more than just a little sarcasm.

What you can find here...

The experience section takes you to my résumé. Examples are examples of my work, including my illustrative work, samples of some 3D objects I’ve created, and a web version of my television graphics demo reel. Tricks takes you to Tricks of the Trade, a collection of articles about 3D and television graphics that I’ve written over the years, including a glossary of terms and some free utility software. The personal section talks about my family, links are a collection of links to other sites of interest, and contact tells you how to get in touch with me.

What is good design?

Design means a lot of things to a lot of people.

Too frequently people think design means how something looks. To them, “good” design is something they think looks somehow cool or hip, even if it’s hard to read or navigate. I believe that good design means that something works well in its specific application; if it communicates well, and serves its purpose, only then do I consider it good design.

Good design is how something works, not just how it looks.The added benefit of this philosophy is that something that works well usually looks good, too.

Words and images Copyright © 2008 by James Burns. No reuse of this material is allowed without written permission.