Techie Stuff!

This is a comic I've been working on for awhile with writer Patrick McEvoy - called "Integration"!  I met Patrick at a small convention at Lovecraft Bar months ago, and he liked my work and sent me some scripts to look over.  (It's good to exhibit at conventions large and small because really, you could pick up freelance work anywhere!)  It's great that I had a lot of freedom with the drawings - from the green mohawk to the disco ball stoplight (of course stoplights will look different in the future... so why NOT a disco ball?)  I love futuristic themed stories - they're so fun to draw!  Glad this comic is complete and seeing the light of day - as freelancers know, projects without solid deadlines are always the ones to be pushed back when other hard deadlines loom.  But I've been improving my time management skills and was able to fit this between other projects whenever possible.

In other tech news, I replaced my computer's RAM (random access memory) all by myself with success!!  It's a big step for me - at first just the thought of opening my computer's insides was scary.  Thanks to talking with the Mac Doctors at the Apple store, watching lots of YouTube videos about it, reading some articles, and asking tips from technology-inclined friends on Facebook, I found the process pretty easy to do once I got started!  Knowledge is power!!  I wouldn't recommend doing this if you're not prepared though.  The biggest thing to watch out for is the electrostatic thing, which sounds scary!  No, you will not be electrocuted, you just need to touch something metal to discharge any static electricity.  Honestly, the hardest part of the process was getting the new RAM out of the damn clam shell packaging!

I'm not going to give a step-by-step process, as others could do it better than me, but I'll give a tip.  From watching YouTube demos, I learned that there are different sizes to the 10 screws on the back of the MacBook Pro.  To keep track of what screws went where, I put them in 2 shot glasses and drew a little map of where those sizes of screws should go.

A few years ago I had to get my Mac's hard drive replaced.  I've blogged not too long ago about how I had to take it in to get the logic board replaced.  Well soon after that I had to replace the battery.  And now with 16GB of RAM (vs 4GB), my computer is 4 times faster!!  This Frankenstein computer pretty much runs like new now - the difference is unbelievable!  I can definitely extend the life of this baby for at least another year I think.

One other thing - computer repair places will charge you a lot to do a simple RAM upgrade.  Installation can cost anywhere from $40 (if you've already bought RAM online) to up to $200 if you buy RAM from their store.  When getting RAM online, make sure it's compatible with your OS (operating system - in my case, a MacBook Pro).  I chose the Crucial brand, recommended by the Mac Doctors (Genius Bar people), and it was half the cost stores charge.  Some other complicated things, like the logic board, should definitely be handled by a pro, but newbies can save a lot of money and feel empowered by getting your feet wet replacing RAM.  

Going against the tech theme for the Daily Misfortune - I don't want to jinx my computer :P

Computer Crash!!

There I was last Saturday night, working on some sketches for a client in Photoshop, when suddenly the screen went spaZoid, then black.  I remained calm.  But then I started to worry when my computer wouldn't restart!  I immediately made a Genius Bar appointment for the next day at the 24-hour Apple store (yes, we have one of those in NYC :)

Basically it was a problem with the laptop's logic board, and apparently was a defect of some early 2011 computers, because they fixed it for free!  Thank God, because it would have been like $600 otherwise, and this computer is 5 years old, so I'd probably only get another year out of it anyway. 

Luckily, I wasn't too worried about data loss because I back up via Crash Plan!!  It's basically cloud backup.  At first, when my external hard drive crashed a few years ago, the concept of backing up to some unknown location was scary to me, but it actually works out very well!  Before, with my external HD, I'd only backup at the end of the day (or every few days), but this way I backup continuously.  I had to redo some stuff on the one file I was working on at the time of the crash, but all other files I'd worked on that day were fine.  But seriously, if I didn't have the comfort of cloud backup, this situation could have been A TOTAL DISASTER.

But the Mac doctors had to take my computer away to do some operations for a few days.  I had separation anxiety, as I'm protective of my laptop to a ridiculous degree.  They said it could take 5 business days, but I insisted it had to be fixed by Thursday, as I have a weekly deadline (the No Tears: Life With FD comic!  Colored digitally in Photoshop).  Of course, there is never a good time for a crash to happen, but when an artist relies heavily on their computer to get work done for many clients, it's a tough situation!  I was very adamant about this, and the Mac doctors were very understanding.  I did have some physical drawings for a custom comic that needed to be done in the meantime though, so I was still productive.  Luckily, they fixed my Mac 2 days early!  The squeaky wheel gets the grease! 

And so far all files and programs are OK and running smoothly (knock on wood).  The Mac doctors didn't have to wipe my drive, so I didn't even need to spend the time re-uploading everything from Crash Plan and was able to jump right back into work!  Given everything that happened, with so many points at which things could take a turn for the worse, this situation turned out pretty damn good!