articles within the ‘Explorations’ category

now I know

By James Caldwell | Published: July 16th, 2014

For those of you who have asked me if I created another Christmas Snowflake book for my nephew, I have. I was just remiss in posting it. As each year passes it gets a little more difficult to create a brand new book and figure out what the idea for the new one should be. However I did complete this fourth book for Nathan, or “Baby Nathan” as I like to refer to him. As usual, this book was fun to work on, but what was different was the fact that an idea for this book came to me rather quickly, unlike my ideas the last few years.

now I know excerpt

now I know excerpt

Fun in the Snow

By James Caldwell | Published: December 9th, 2012

Usually my day is filled with similar strategy and branding issues for various companies. But things are slowing down as Christmas approaches even if the snow has yet to fall. For the last two years I have produced a children’s book for my nephew Nathan about the life and times of a snowflake. The first book was about the Life of a Snowflake, and the second dealt with his dreams. Now I am no illustrator but I do the best I can and I think that this year’s book and my third in the series turned out better than ever.

Fun in the Snow Book Excerp

Fun in the Snow Book Excerpt – Snowmen always seem friendly to me.

A layout and design critique

By James Caldwell | Published: April 27th, 2012

I have never included anyone else’s thoughts on 418QE before but after reading my very good friend and mentor Keith Branscombe’s rant, I could hardly resist. I asked him if I could publish it. His ‘rant’ makes some obviously valid points and it is certainly food for thought – enjoy!

Charter Clip Art

Charter Clip Art

My Dream Time

By James Caldwell | Published: December 2nd, 2011

Well it’s that time of year again and even if the snow hasn’t fallen, Christmas is around the corner. Last year and around this time I made a children’s book for my nephew Nathan about the life of a snowflake. This was the first time I ever attempted to make a book of this type. Influenced by a friend and motivated by my love for my nephew I spent a few weeks coming up with an idea for a series of books. This year I continue the snowflake series.

Dreamtime Book Excerpt

Dreamtime Book Excerpt – This is where it gets strange...

All this for 30 seconds

By James Caldwell | Published: January 13th, 2011

For the last three days I have experienced what it is like to have a film crew come into my house for a one day commercial shoot. Over a year ago a friend of mine told me that my place would be perfect for filming, but up until this week, it had not happened. Since I was a newbie, I was admittedly a little nervous about what might happen to my place during the shoot or what the aftermath would be. Of course they constantly assure you that everything will be put back to normal but that still doesn’t necessarily calm your nerves.

Unnamed Commercial Shoot

Unnamed Commercial Shoot

My Snowy Life

By James Caldwell | Published: December 13th, 2010

A few weeks ago my family and friends gathered together to celebrate my birthday. One of the people in attendance was my friend, Keith Branscombe and with him he brought a book he made about his visit to Cuba. I was immediately intrigued and asked him how it all came about. To make a long story short he said it was his first one but that he had another couple that he was still working on.

Snowflake Book Excerpt

Snowflake Book Excerpt

Family Photo Wall

By James Caldwell | Published: June 2nd, 2010

I have been prodded by several friends to showcase my ‘Family Photo Wall’ but I don’t really like the idea of placing my personal life on display. However a good friend suggested that I write a brief instructional of how I accomplished this task because they knew that I documented the whole procedure. (Actually they were politely poking fun at my sometimes meticulous nature.) Of course they were correct and so the following is a brief instructional on my inexpensive, albeit time consuming, family photo wall.

Photowall Snapshot

Photowall Snapshot