SteamedPenguin

I am preparing myself for a presentation on using the Zen theme for Drupal. I could, and should, use another site to play around with but I tend to use and abuse SteamedPenguin because it is handy and because it is easy for me to work with an actual product rather than having to create a design to be populated. When I do web development I prefer to have the actual content before starting to work. Content is still king, right? Creating designs from scratch has zero appeal to me because design is supposed to follow from form not the other way around.

In playing with Zen on SteamedPenguin I desired a graphical representation for this site, something that had been lacking for several years. Looking for graphics of penguins that are licensed freely really pushes you towards using a representation of Tux the Linux mascot. This posed a problem for me as using software like Gimp or Krita isn't a core competency. While looking through the Wikipedia article on Tux I saw the very pretty and shiny Crystallized Tux. I saved the image and opened it up with Inkscape.

I made two small modifications to the original image. I inverted the line that makes the penguin smile and flipped it so that the contented smile turns into a curl is displeasure. Next I created two areas with the Bezier tool to conform to the upper curvature of the eyes so that the open, happy look turns into a scowl.

I am sitting at Advantage Labs this evening for the monthly Twin Cities Drupal Group meeting. Gabe Ormsby is presenting for Friends of the Mississippi River today.

I am sitting in a mixed group of people, most of them are developers of some sort or the other. I am holding down the fort for the hobbyists since I am not doing anything professional.

The presentation wasn't exactly Drupal specific, at least until the end, but that is quite OK. It was interesting to see the process of development laid bare as it makes it easier to apply to Drupal.

The subsequent discussion was a bit high-level which might be due to Gabe's high-level approach which might be a bit difficult for people unfamiliar with the terminology to feel comfortable discussing.