My initial impression with blackhand.com was nothing short of Wow! Its splash page is slick and artistic. I’m not usually a fan of anime, but this splash page made me want to explore the site. The simple line graphic, with a slight “pulse” reminded me of the original “Street Fighter” game’s graphics, so I entered this site waxing nostalgic and in a happy mood. The next page was even more impressive in its design. It has a great colour scheme of blues, oranges and yellows – Paul obviously has a strong art background. The site follows the same theme all the way through, and gives readers a chance to look at his old designs, which include commentary of what he liked and didn’t like about said designs.
After drooling over Paul’s amazing visuals, I headed over to the blog, which has it’s own sub page. I really like the fact that the blog is on a sub page, because it makes the site appear more “rounded”, like there’s more to it than simply a blog. Paul has archives going back to 1999, and he lists all the entries for the current year so you don’t have to waste time clicking from month to month to surf the archives. The entry I read first was the current one and I had to admit I really enjoyed it because of the art history references and the discussion about selling out vs. doing art purely for yourself. I might be biased though, being an art student myself. Biased or not I though it was a sign of a good writer if he was able to link his life to past history events. It makes an entry that would other wise be a “whiney” entry about his life, more accessible to the rest of us.
To make sure I hadn’t just stumbled on his site on a particularly insightful day, I dove into the archives. And then the dog barked and I had to go outside with her for a short walk. Returning to my computer ten minutes later, I had experienced a “love at second glance” with Blackhand.com.
Paul’s blog is full of insightful entries that are a mix of daily tidbits of his life, intertwined with pop culture, wrapped up in a clear, concise delivery. He managed to alter my opinion of two things during my visit to his site. 1) Animie isn’t that bad as a layout base and 2) Personal blogs can be more than just places for us satisfy our voyeuristic tendencies. blackhand.com