Little space of Normaron

My first $100 from online freelance job through oDesk!

// November 26th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Freelance

It is one of my dream to be come a freelancer and now I am actually working on as it. Working when you are sitting comfortably at your home and doing works that you really love to do. Earn some pocket money and pay the bills. You choose the job that you are comfortable to work on while having time to be with your family.

This is the proof my payment! =D (Click to see larger image)

My current buyer are both from US and we communicate through email and skype, it was quite nervous at first to communicate with someone that live at the other part of the world. It was mid-night during my first conversation with my employer. As you can see my pay is quite low at $2.5 per hour, but it is better than couldn’t find at job to start.I believe as long you get nice feedback at there, there will be plenty of work you can get from there with higher pay rate in the future ;).

Now I am going to share how you can be a freelancer through oDesk !

Why I choose oDesk?

Because oDesk says,

We guarantee work to employers that every hour billed is an hour worked.
We guarantee payment to providers that every hour worked is an hour paid.

I’ve join oDesk since April 2009 but I am busy with my academic and internship so I did not take any job on oDesk until October.  There is a lot of features inside that really helps you to promote yourself to get attention from the buyer (people who looking freelancer like us) and also competing with with providers (freelancers) around the world.

There are two types of job regarding the payments in oDesk, Hourly & Fixed Price job. I prefer hourly job because oDesk guarantee you will get the payment through their system. They have a program that you need to install in your computer to keep track as a proof that you are actually working. It is running on hourly rate so how much time you took to finish a job is how much you can earn. While fixed price job oDesk cannot guarantee about the payment, but I think oDesk is working on it to provide safer working environment for freelancer.

Take Test!

One of the features that I like is to be able to take TEST! I admit that I hate test at school but I love it in oDesk, because you can retake as many time as you want and show the best score you can achieve to show buyers. But you only can retake test after one month on the same paper.  There is a lot of test you can choose from to test you skills and knowledge. Image below shows some(those that I passed =p) test that I’ve taken.

Also you can put up your portfolio, don’t let them hide in your computer storage, show the world what you can do and earn some money from it!

Wide variety of jobs

There is various kind of jobs you can find at oDesk and is not only for designer,

• Design & Multimedia
• Web Development
• Software Development
• Writing & Translation
• Administrative Support
• Customer Service
• Sales & Marketing
• Business Services
• Networking & Information Systems

So if you are interested, make sure you take a visit to their site and see how it works, if you have any question, you can ask me by leaving comments and hope that I will be able to help you.

Go to oDesk Website

Win a Leading Graphic Information Design Book

// November 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Contest

Want to win this book?

This is an information design book that will let you learn to display complex visual data simply and with elegance. Pull back the layers and investigate these visual principles. Enhance your information design skills with this leading book in the field.

How to win?
To win this is simple, just go to this page –> Click Here and leave a comment with your name and correct email address  so that the staff at Vector tuts+ can contact you if you win.

When it Ends?
Make sure you go and comment before midnight this Friday, November 27th, 2009, Eastern Standard Time.

Good luck~!

Color IQ Test

// September 29th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Colors, Design

I found this test when I am doing a bit research about color calibrator for monitor/LCD in the market. Color calibration is very important for professional photographer and also designer that need to deliver accurate color of artwork. I will talk more about what is Color Calibration in the future and why it is important.

What I want to share with you guys is a Color IQ Test, it test your eyes how you see colors. I found this at Xritephoto , they have various products for color management.

Color IQ Test

It is very simple to test, just Drag & Drop arranging the color hue , like a gradient from pink to yellow, yellow to green etc. After you finish, click the “Score Test” button to see how much you score, 0 is the highest score in here, means zero mistake.

My score : 3

I score 3 in this test, how much will you score?

Click here to start  Color IQ Test

Interesting way to name your design studio / company / firm

// September 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // Flash

Are you having problems to think of a name when setting up a design studio/company/firm? Or when trying to come out with a group name for assignments/ projects?

Breadline Design has built a funny flash site in helping you to solve that,  a slot machine that helps you generate a name for design firm: Design Naming Machine

Give it a try! Its is interesting and funny=D!

Owsome Videos by PES

// September 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Film & Animation, Video

Yesterday I saw my friend post up a video on facebook, that Video makes me watched 3 times repeatedly! I love it very much and the video is nicely done! I would like to share it  here. The maker of the video is PES , PES is one person, not a film collective or a production company.

After one video share by my friend at facebook, I do a search on google and watched all his video in youtube. His video is interesting to watch, it uses stuff that we see everyday and match it with great sound and audio (this reminds me when I have my sound design class).

Here I will share some of the videos that I like most,

Western Spaghetti

The first video that caught my attention!

Baby Nut

This video is so cute, I stare at the monitor and smile like I was really looking at a cute baby! lol~ I am really going Nut!

Game Over

This 1 is cool,  all the games that you played in the old days.

Content below is sensitive to some audience, sorry to say there is  no nude =p

Roof Sex

Interview

I found an interview of eguiders and PES,  I took out some parts to share at here,

1. I like to start these by having people introduce themselves. Can you tell us a little about your background and how you became interested in stop-motion animation?

I knew absolutely nothing technically about stop-motion animation until I had the idea for my short film Roof Sex. I studied literature and printmaking in school, not film or animation. I don’t think I really knew what a director did until I had to figure out how to make my own film.

With Roof Sex I felt that the right technique for the idea would be stop-motion, so I taught myself how to animate by doing tests with doll furniture on my dining room table. In the course of making that film, I realized that I had lots more ideas using objects, so I started making them. The ideas are what interest me, not the technique.

4. I’m curious, where do you find inspiration for some of your shorts? Do you find that ideas come to you more in dreams, walking around the city, etc?

I carry a piece of paper and pen with me at all times. I just write stuff down and inevitably certain ideas keep coming up, bugging me. Then it’s just a matter of getting them out there so my mind can move on to new things.

8. What advice would you give to someone who was interested in learning stop-motion animation and directing?

It all starts with a good idea. A good idea with a mediocre execution is more forgivable than a beautifully animated film of a lousy idea. So, I’d say, work on your ideas. Learning animation is not the hard part. There are many talented animators in the world. But a good idea is still hard to come by.

10. What is the greatest challenge you face when making a short? What is the greatest reward?

Not fucking it up. Not fucking it up.

11. Finally, is there any idea you can leave us with to help us foster greater creativity online?

Entertain yourself first, others will follow.

To see the full interview, Click here

PES website